Seeing Behind the Mask
by anyabar1987
Summary: reuploaded after a Hiatus. what if the psycho rangers had a connection to Andros that affected both him and Zhane in ways only they knew.
1. Chapter 1

A ten year old boy sat by a window; he looked pathetic sitting in the chair. It was raining out, and it fit his mood perfectly. In the matter of a week he had lost everyone he cared about. No, he took it back, it had been two years since he had lost his sister. Now within the last week he had first lost his father to an accident and then a few hours ago, he had lost his mother to grief-stricken suicide.

So there he was sitting in the lobby of the hospital where his mother had been brought in one last ditch attempt at saving her. He had with him a small bag containing the last of his belongings, a few clothes and a few pictures of his former family.

"You must be Andros. I am Kin-won," an older man said, standing near where he sat.

The boy whipped around and looked up at the man. "Are you here to take me to the orphanage?"

"No, not the orphanage," the man replied. "Now stand up, will you? I need to get a good look at you, and I can't very well do that with you all scrunched up in that chair."

Andros looked up. "But they said I am an orphan now, my family is all gone. So shouldn't I go to the orphanage?"

"Your father knew his job was risky. He had known that for quite a while. He came to me about three years ago. He asked that if anything happened to him and your mother couldn't care for you or your sister, my organization would assume custody of you." Kin-Won explained. "Now stand up, I really do need a good look at you so I know where to place you."

Andros slowly stood up, holding his bag close, not wanting to lose his only possessions. "Please sir, what are you going to do with me?"

"Why, I am in charge of the Ranger training facility. Hmm, you're a little on the skinny side and look a little tired but that is nothing that a good meal and a decent night's sleep won't fix. Now come along, you of course will be expected to pull your own weight. Don't think you'll have the easiest life but it will be better then the one your father could have provided you with."

Andros followed the man out the doors cautiously. What did the man mean by a better life? Sure he had always dreamed of being a ranger but he knew his family's place was working with the heavy manufacturing equipment.

They came to a building that Andros recognized; he had walked past it several times when he was on school trips. The building was big, bigger then most of the buildings in the city, with several divisions and sprawling training grounds. All kids his age wanted to step foot in the building but never had the chance to. Strange, he thought, it took his parents dying for him to get in. As he walked in he didn't know what his life would hold for him now.

He held onto his bag as Kin-Won showed him to a dining hall. It was late at night and the hall was pretty much empty, with the exception of some late stragglers who were talking. Kin-Won went into the kitchen and came out with a plate of food. "Here, eat this. Then I will show you to a room for the night."

Andros took the plate and looked at the food. It might be warmed leftovers but he had to admit it was the best he had smelled since his father's accident a week ago. His mother had not been in the mood to fix anything special even if they had had the money to spare like before the accident.

Kin-Won sat and watched him eat. "I don't normally take boys as young as you here, but I made a promise to your father. He was an honorable man and kept his word with other matters. If you remember nothing else of your father know that he was honorable."

Once Andros had eaten everything on his plate Kin-Won took it and put it in the washroom. "I will show you a room for tonight and when you wake up, I will show you my office. You come right there with this uniform on and I will show you what will be expected of you for as long as you stay here."

Andros nodded and followed the man, grateful for the meal he had just had, knowing that if this was the orphanage he probably wouldn't have gotten anything at all. Walking to a room on a different floor, Kin-Won pointed out his office. The room he was shown to was not much more than a bed in a room the size of a closet but it was a room with a window overlooking the training fields where he could see a group of six training very hard in the dark.

"Ahh, I see you saw the future rangers out there. Their parents were rangers so unless they fail their tests and training levels, which is in most cases is the most unlikely thing because they have been bred to be rangers, they will be the next team. You will meet them in the morning, but right now they should be finishing up their night training and getting themselves to bed, as you should as well. I can promise you will have long days ahead of you here," Kin-Won explained as he shut the door leaving the young boy alone.

As the door clicked shut, Andros climbed into the bed, gently setting his bag down. He curled up into a ball and cried himself to sleep. He had felt sad before but now he felt alone, as he realized how different his life would be now. As he slept he dreamt of his mother and father, they seemed happy and he knew they were because they were together even if it meant he was alone.

When he awoke, he did as the man had said and put on his uniform, which bore the rangers symbol but instead of being as nice as the ones he had seen the real rangers wear when they had been in town, his was a dark blue jumpsuit and was one piece. Picking up his bag, not wanting to leave it lying around, he walked to Kin-Won's office.

He didn't even have a chance to knock before the door opened with Kin-Won at the door as if he had been waiting for Andros to come down. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, ushering Andros into his office as the boy nodded slowly. "Good, you are going to be glad you did because as I know I said today you will be working for your keep as everyone else does here regardless of whether they have parents supporting them. This institution makes children grow up very fast."

Andros bit his lip nervously as he looked to the ground and rubbed the toe of his new regulation boot on the floor. "Sir, what will be expected of me here?" he asked in a low nervous voice.

"Well, for now you will start out being an assistant to one of the future rangers, as all young members who joined from non ranger families do."

Andros looked confused at the description.

"Oh, um, how do I put this? Are you familiar with the ancient Knight tales from the legends that came from Earth?"

Andros nodded, of course he was familiar with the stories; they were required reading in the nine year olds class.

"Alright then, you are familiar with the stories of Squires and how their jobs were to assist the knights? That is sort of what you will be doing, however it will only be for training and learning the way a ranger is supposed to act."

Kin-Won walked back out the door indicating that Andros should follow and so he did once more, only this time the halls were filled with older kids rushing from place to place. "Usually I only consider taking children twelve and older but seeing as you are a special case, amends will have to be made for you with the fact that once school begins again you must attend. Whether a tutor is brought here or if you will be expected to attend the local school we will see but for now work on your training."

"Ki-Kin-Won," Andros stammered, "do I really have to go to school?"

"Yes, you know perfectly well that it is required mandatory for all children between the ages of two and twelve to be enrolled in a school."

Andros dropped his head; of course this would have to mean going to a new school as well. He had lived just shy over the border in a small off shoot village that he had attended a small village school. Taking in a deep breath, he paused just so slightly and almost lost Kin-Won in the crowd that was moving through the hall from one training exercise to another.

Once Andros had caught up to Kin-Won, he followed swiftly to make sure he wouldn't get lost again.

"Your father told me he saw potential in you as a young boy and I see it as well, you have a spark in your eye that tells me you would make a fine attempt at training alongside the red ranger in training."

Kin-Won found the rangers in training taking a break in the lounge, drinking plenty of water for it was a hot day out. "Zimri!" Kin Won called out upon entering the room.

"Yes sir? Anything I can do for you, headmaster?" the dark haired, dark eyed boy asked, standing up before his name fully left Kin-Won's lips.

"I would like you to meet Andros; he will be your new assistant for the time being and will start his duties as such officially tomorrow," Kin-won said, stepping aside so Andros was visible to the other boy.

"Him?" Zimri asked. "But he can't be older than ten!"

"Yes, he is only ten, but I made a promise to his father that if he was not able to ensure that his son would be well cared for that he was to come here and earn a living, so whether you like it or not Andros son of Emmett will be your assistant and you are to treat him with respect."

Zimri turned, crossed his arms, and grumbled but then looked Andros up and down. "Can you carry a sword?" Andros nodded but looked back at Kin-Won; Zimri seemed to have some distaste for him.

Kin-Won just smiled. "Good, I will come back in a few hours to show Andros to his permanent room. Till then get to know each other and maybe show him some of the basics of what will be expected of him." He left the room with a smile.

Once Kin-Won was out of sight, Zimri smiled and, being the oldest of his group he was also the strongest, so in one swoop he picked Andros up and put him headfirst into the trashcan before walking off with a smile on his face.

Andros struggled to get out of it, but he couldn't pull himself out. It was a few seconds later when he felt two sets of hands grab his ankles and pull until he popped out and nearly fell flat on his face. He sat up and looked at the two kids that pulled him out.

"Sorry about that, Zimri has a tendency to be a bit of a bully. I don't know how he has made it this far into his training but he has." The boy who stood over him said, "I am Zhane, by the way. I just started here a month ago and Zimri was mean to me as well, so it's not just you, don't worry."

He then pointed to the girl in yellow who had helped pull him out. "That's Esiila; she is Zimri's cousin."

Andros sat up as Zhane introduced the older girl to him. She was pretty and he could tell that there was a resemblance to Zimri, although the way she composed herself was completely different. "It's nice to meet you and I just want you to know that if you stick with it, eventually my cousin will treat you well." She had a sweet voice that flowed gently. "Let me introduce you to the rest of our future team." She paused and pointed to the others still sitting drinking water. "In the pink is Azalia and in the blue is her brother Gaynor, and over there in the black is Kasch. All of us were born into ranger families so I guess you can kind of figure out who our parents are."

Andros nodded. He finally got to meet some rangers or at least rangers in training and all he could do was sit on the floor recovering from being dumped in the trashcan.

Kasch stood up flipping his blond hair out of his face. "Yeah, he'll like you if you don't go running to your mommy's arms before he's through with you. I will tell you no one has made it through the assistant phase under him before to even have a shot at claiming the red morpher from him; he knows what he is doing." He spoke sternly and walked out of the room to find his friend.

Azalia laughed as she walked over and offered Andros her hand. "I wish you luck; no one and I mean no one, who has been placed as a challenger to the red morpher has made it farther then a few weeks. They all end running so I will tell you it's not going to be an easy shot."

Andros stood and tried to act tough but he knew inside that his guts were shaking with nerves. He collected himself and firmly said, "Well, I have nowhere to run, if it wasn't for a promise Kin-Won made to my father I would be in an orphanage right now."

Gaynor, who had till now seemed uninterested in the boy perked up. "An orphan, you say?" He smiled deviously. "Don't tell Zimri that because it will only make his game even more enjoyable and besides, it will give you a playing card to use silently."

Esiila looked at Gaynor and cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you thinking that?"

"Oh come on Esi," he said, calling her by her nick name, "you know that anything would be better than your cousin, even an orphan and what better to give him a hard time? I know, I know, you like your cousin but face it. How many bad choices has he made in the simulations that if it were a real battle field would have resulted in death? He really needs to grow up some more."

Esiila just stomped her foot. "You're just saying that because you want to be the red ranger, but you know you can't, so you think if you get someone who can be trained better than Zimri then you can be his senior because you would have more experience." She turned with tears in her eyes."

"Esi, no, that's not what I meant and you know it. You know perfectly well what I meant. What's got you so irked that you are sympathizing with your cousin?" He went over and hugged her and she smiled, cuddling into his arms as if all was forgiven between the two.

Zhane looked at the two and turned away, sticking his finger in his mouth he pretended to gag, but stopped after a few seconds when Azalia knocked him over the head. "Grow up, Zhane, just 'cause you are the baby of this group doesn't mean you can taunt us about our relationships because one day you're going to have a girl and we are going to taunt you like you do us."

Andros stood there, not realizing that he had some garbage in his hair till Kin-Won returned and found him standing watching the others, minus Kasch and Zimri.

"Where's Zimri? I thought I told him to get to know Andros…" He paused when he saw the small flakes of trash in the boy's hair, "I see Zimri didn't waste anytime in bullying his new assistant. I will be having a talking to that boy! He can't go an hour without bullying others just because they weren't born into the privilege of the morpher." He shook his head. "Come along Andros, I will show you to your room."

Andros followed and as Kin-Won led him to his room he passed Zimri in the hall talking to a pretty girl while leaning against a storage locker. He couldn't be sure but it sounded like someone was banging on the door trying to get out.

He knew for sure when Kin-Won grabbed Zimri by the arm. "Just because you think Hadara is pretty doesn't mean you can lock Brencis in a closet because he is her boyfriend and you want her. Now didn't I tell you that you were to treat Andros with respect?"

The boy nodded. "And I did, I just decided that I was needed elsewhere for a bit."

Zimri smiled while shooting a glare at Andros, who was standing there still holding his bag.

"I don't call finding Andros with trash in his hair being treated with respect. You are going to have to get over your superiority complex because whether you like it you are stuck with Andros. I am placing him as your understudy and if you know what's good for your future status as red ranger, you will not mistreat Andros. Consider this your last test before your worthiness exam in which how much he has learned will weigh heavily on your exam points," Kin-Won ordered the boy.

He just responded with a simple 'yes sir,' but as soon as Kin-Won's back was turned, he rolled his eyes and glared at Andros for just a second longer. Then he spun on his heel to find Kasch and the rest of his team for more training.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: if the times sound funny I added four hours to the Kerovian clock. On KO-35 in my story they have twenty-eight hour days. So saying for example twenty-four thirty would be the equivalent of ten-thirty PM.

Chapter 2

Andros fell to the ground with a grunt at Zimri's well-placed kick to his shoulder. He was grateful for the home Kin-Won had given him six months prior, but he didn't like the fact that everyday he had to assist Zimri. Zimri's idea of letting him assist was being his test dummy. Andros had to admit he learned how to defend himself well that way, but he was never allowed to strike Zimri; he had tried once to counter attack but was shoved to the ground with a sword pressed against his throat.

The only thing that had saved him that time was Kin-Won walking in. Zimri was like a buddy to Andros when Kin-Won was around but as long as neither Kin-Won nor any of the other trainers were in sight, Zimri was Andros' worst nightmare. The worst part was that he was blackmailed into the fact that he couldn't tell Kin-Won anything, or else once he wasn't looking it would be lights out for him.

As for his schooling, Kin-Won had procured a teacher who came over in the evenings to tutor him. This worked out because a few of the other trainees needed some extra classroom time so the teacher was able to work with them as well. Even though he had less classroom time, he found he was still ahead of the other students in his grade because he had more one on one time with his new teacher.

Another kick from Zimri brought Andros back to the now and then. There was no room for daydreaming when he was training with Zimri. Swinging his legs up defensively, he stood up and blocked a third kick.

"You aren't going to give up are you Andros? You know, I am surprised that you haven't run for your mommy's arms in the last six months."

Zimri tried this trick each time, seeing as he still didn't know that Andros was an orphan. Zimri kicked and Andros didn't know what was happening till half a second later he was on the floor scrunched up in a ball. That had to be a first, he admitted to himself in his thoughts. Zimri hadn't attempted to kick him that low before; he must be in a foul mood over something if he was training so aggressively that he would do something so low.

Andros was about to stand back up and continue to train with his ruthless opponent when he heard a familiar sweet voice. Zimri always sang a different tune when his cousin was watching.

"Zimri, that was low even for you. This is not how you are going to pass your final exam before you get your morpher later this year."

"You think I care? Kin-Won has no clue how I train and anyway how can you say I am fighting hard, he is a shrimp compared to me," Zimri bragged, as Andros made his way to the side where Esiila was waiting with a bottle of water.

"Zimri, the week you went home because you were ill the rest of us trained with Andros and he can handle quite a lot in the ring. If you just gave him more of a chance, you would see. Face the fact, cousin, that it is the rules and you have to deal with it. I think Andros has proven that no matter what you throw at him he will stand up and take it as a man," Esiila said, reprimanding her cousin.

Just then Kin-Won made a surprise visit to watch and when he saw Zimri alone on the training mats, he looked around to see Andros with a pained expression on his face sitting with Esiila drinking some water. "Andros? Are you alright?" he asked, coming over.

"Yes sir, I… I am fine just a misplaced kick that was misjudged," Andros stammered.

"Andros, stop covering for my cousin. It isn't worth it, everyone on the team is in agreement that he is violent and he is using you like a puppet so he can be sure he gets the morpher at the ceremony of his sixteenth year." Esiila looked at Andros, then she turned to Kin-Won, "My cousin is not worthy of the morpher, Headmaster Kin-Won, and I have been watching him train for a few days now. He is violent towards Andros, beats him up, and doesn't allow anything more then defense from Andros. If it was my choice, Headmaster, I would have my cousin expelled this very minute and Andros placed as the official red ranger in training."

"Yes, I agree with you; however, you are one voice among many. I need many more witnesses. However, if what you say is true I will up my surprise visits and put them at more random intervals." Kin-Won said, looking straight at Zimri. "By saying that he's expelled right now would be passing an unjust punishment; yes I have suspected it for a while but I need to catch something that I can see."

Zimri had been performing a series of kata's during this discussion so he did not hear all that was being said about him, but as Kin-Won finished, he walked over and bowed to Kin-Won as if everything was normal. "Headmaster, Andros and I were just finishing up our training for today. I think he is making sufficient progress but there is the factor that he is a shrimp compared to me, so accidents are going to happen out there."

LLLLL

Andros was sitting in his room later that evening looking at the pictures of his parents like he did every evening before settling into

bed for the night, when the door was forcibly opened without warning.

"Didn't I warn you about what would happen if you even whispered a peep to Kin-Won about what actually goes on during our training sessions?" It was Zimri, and as he entered the room he shut the door behind him.

"I didn't say anything to headmaster Kin-Won," Andros said, rolling off his bed and onto the floor on the other side where he could at least duck and cover from Zimri if he had to.

"Well, the scuttlebutt around this base here is that someone ratted me out, and now I might face expulsion. The only other people that knew of how I treated you was my team and I know they would never go behind my back so it had to be you, brat," Zimri said storming across the room and grabbing Andros' wrist before he could get down low enough to avoid being attacked.

Andros felt himself pulled over the bed closer to Zimri.

"You are going to pay dearly, I was considering making it look like a training accident and be easy on you but that would be too easy. Anyway, Kin-Won is going to be watching most of our training sessions from now on."

As he pulled Andros across the bed he bent his wrist backwards until he heard it pop. Andros bit back tears and the urge to scream. Zimri had told him from the beginning that if he cried it would only prove he was more of a baby, and that the more tears the harder he would be on him. He didn't know how long Zimri beat on him but he knew that by the time someone came racing into the room he was very sore and could hardly move. He realized it wasn't just someone it was the rest of Zimri's team; Kasch and Gaynor were holding him down while Esiila and Azalia were standing over him trying to make sure he was alright.

Azalia reached out to touch his hand; unfortunately it was the hand that Zimri had pulled on, and Andros let out a scream when she sent a searing pain shooting through his arm. The last words he heard before blacking out was Esiila telling Azalia not to touch him.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up in the infirmary and Esiila was sitting beside his bed. He tried to sit up but found his chest hurt and any sudden movements sent a searing pain shooting through his body.

"Andros!" Esiila said, jumping up. "You're awake, I was so worried."

"What…" Andros broke off as he struggled to sit up again. As he moved in the bed, his body screamed at him to stop and lay still, but he was determined. Esiila placed her hands gently on his shoulders and helped him up.

"What am I doing in the infirmary?" he asked finally after she had him propped up against some of his pillows for support.

"Don't tell me you don't remember Zimri using you as a punching bag last night. Because of it you have several broken ribs, your left arm is broken in at least two places, one being your wrist, and you have quite a few bruises covering most of your body. He knocked you up good," Esiila said, handing him a cup of water and helping him take a sip.

"Where is he?" Andros asked, getting angry now that he fully realized his injuries. He looked at his left arm seeing it held straight in a splint. There was a fresh mark on the inside of his wrist that could only have been from the doctors having to repair his wrist. This was the first in his life he was glad that the doctors had other ways to seal incisions other then the barbarian ways it was rumored to still be used on Earth. He would still have to wait for his bones to mend but at least he probably wouldn't have a scar to remind him of the previous night.

"Zimri is being detained. No one is allowed to see him. No one that is, until his father gets here. And when that happens you can expect Headmaster to have a war on his hands. There is no way Ture is going to take kindly to his son's impending expulsion. Like father like son, my uncle is just as arrogant as Zimri is." Esiila smiled, ruffling his hair. "But the good news is we caught him in the act and there was too much evidence against Zimri for him to say this was an accident. It's just unfortunate that you had to be so injured in the process."

Just then an all too familiar blond head popped in the doorway. Esiila laughed when she saw Zhane peeking in the doorway. When he saw Andros sitting up in bed he leaped into the room, evidently practicing his stealth maneuvers. Andros tried to laugh at his friend but found it hurt too much so he resorted to smiling.

"Zhane, you don't have to act like your going to get in trouble by coming in here." Esiila laughed at her young teammate.

"I know, but one of the nurses out there was giving me the creeps so I had to sneak past her. I was just walking along minding my manners when she saw me she stared at me for some reason." Zhane smiled as he jumped up and sat at the foot of Andros' bed.

Esiila shook her head as she looked at Zhane. "Are you sure it wasn't the nurse you frightened last month when you were knocked unconscious during training?"

"Oh yeah, it could have been. I didn't really pay much attention to who it was then, all I know is I woke up and she was… umm… do you really want to know what she was doing to me?" Zhane asked

"No, I think we all know what happened, everyone on the base heard her scream when you sat up and pushed her to the floor," Esiila scolded.

"Zhane, don't be too long, we do have training in a little bit," she reminded him as she walked past Andros' bed and out the door. "I'll get the doctor on my way out, alright? And then I will come down this evening is there anything you want from your room."

"The picture of my parents." He paused and placed his good hand on his chest. "My locket, where is my locket?" Andros asked, getting distressed.

Esiila walked over and picked it up off the bedside table. "Its right here, the doctors had to take it off when they were bandaging your chest." Esiila helped him put it back on. "I forgot, you never take that off, do you?"

Andros shook his head and with his good hand picked it up and unsnapped the clasp, opening in and holding it so Esiila could see the pictures. "It's the last picture taken of both my sister and I."

Esiila gasped as she looked into the eyes of Andros' sister. "Oh, Andros, she was your sister?"

Andros nodded.

"She looks familiar… oh my, I know where I saw her picture. She was the little girl kidnapped almost three years ago by an UAE agent."

Andros started to cry as he nodded. "That's what everyone says but no one can seem to find him. My sister and I were close and I know what at least his back looks like. No one believes my description because according to the authorities there isn't an agent that fits that description."

Esiila stood there with her arms crossed. "But yet they still keep her kidnapper listed as an agent for the UAE? Sounds like someone in the upper chain doesn't want her found. If you want, the next time I am at the databases I'll look into the search orders."

Andros nodded but the tears kept coming, and just then a nurse walked by and it just happened to be Zhane's best friend. "Are you in pain?" the nurse asked as she checked Andros' vitals.

Andros shook his head no, but he was still crying so the nurse put her hands on her hips. "Now, this is not the place to pretend to be all big and tough, so I am going to have no choice but to give you something."

"Alright, you two, I think it is high time you left," the nurse said, shooing Esiila and Zhane from the room as she not so gently laid Andros back down. Turning to the locked medicine cabinet, she pulled out a key and reached inside to get a dose of painkillers out. Mixing a dose expertly and rather quickly, she brought it over and tipped it to Andros' mouth.

He drank it obediently, knowing this nurse was not one to mess with and besides, she had hurt him when she had laid him down. Shortly after drinking it he felt drowsy, and the last thing he saw before falling asleep for several hours was the nurse smiling kindly and walking out of the room.

LLLL

Several hours later he awoke to Esiila entering the room with Azalia beside her. Azalia had some flowers in her hand and Esiila had his pictures. Azalia smiled and walked over to him with a huge smile on her face. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

Andros smiled at the two girls who had become like older sisters to him. "I feel better; I can hardly feel the pain in my chest."

Esiila looked at the empty bottle. "I'm surprised you don't feel like you can fly. That nurse doesn't know what she's doing, no wonder you slept up till now. That medicine strength is enough to drug an elephant. Zhane was right; she was an idiot."

"Can you stay with me for a little bit? I don't feel like sleeping now," Andros said, using his right arm to sit himself up slowly and Azalia propped his pillows up behind him.

"Sure we can stay for a little bit, there is still some time till curfew it's only twenty-two hundred and curfew isn't till twenty-four thirty," Azalia explained.

Andros nodded but was surprised when the two girls placed the tray across his bed and dragged chairs next to the bed. He was even more surprised when Esiila pulled out from her back pocket his favorite card game. "Zhane said you told him you enjoy this game, right?"

Andros nodded and let his smile spread wide. "And by coincidence it's a game that can be played with one hand." He laughed but stopped when he felt the pain from his ribs flare up again. "Which is good because with my left arm in a splint I can't exactly move it very easily."

They played for an hour when Zhane came in holding a tray piled high with food. "Hey look what I did," he laughed. "I managed to raid the kitchen but it was worth it because unless I am mistaken you haven't eaten since last night, Andros."

Andros smiled and looked up when at the thought of food made his stomach growl. The girls picked up the game before Zhane could set the tray down in the middle of it. Once the tray was set on one side of the meal tray attached to the bed, Zhane passed out plates and they started distributing the food among the four of them and there was still more food then they knew what to do with. Andros had some problems at first because he found he couldn't very well hold the plate while eating at the same time.

Just before curfew one of the night doctors walked past and seeing Andros awake, he checked in on him. After checking over the bandages wrapped around his chest and his arm splint he announced, "Well, I want these to be checked over again in the morning but I don't see why you can't go back to your own room tomorrow as long as you keep quiet for the next few days and any sign of serious pain you come back down here." He wrote down on his chart. "Hmm, would you like something for the pain now? Your chart doesn't say you have had any pain killers since last night when you came in."

Andros shook his head and Esiila picked the bottle up off the table where she had set it. "A nurse gave this to him at about sixteen hundred."

The doctor looked at the bottle and his eyes widened. Going back over to Andros he rechecked his vitals. "Do you know the nurse's name? I am going to need to report the nurse."

Esiila looked at Zhane. "Zhane, do you know what her name is? She was the one who treated you last month."

"No, I don't, but I know she wrote it down in my file. At least I think she wrote her name down but I know she wrote something down," Zhane responded.

Azalia held Andros' hand as the doctor sighed. "Alright, I will be right back."

"I knew that woman was fishy. I don't think she is a legitimate nurse at all." Zhane responded.

Soon after the doctor reappeared with Zhane's medical file, "What day did you say she treated you?"

"Uhh, I don't remember the date but, I know it is the last time I was admitted. I had been knocked unconscious during training," Zhane replied.

The doctor looked at the file before closing it and writing something down. "Alright, thank you for your help. Now you three should be getting to bed; if I am not mistaken you have five minutes till curfew." He watched to make sure they left before turning to Andros. "And you, young man are very lucky, you definitely had an angel or two watching you today."

Going to the medicine cabinet he pulled out a different bottle of pain killers then from before. Mixing it up, he set it where Andros could reach it. "I want you to take this just before you go to sleep, I will be checking to make sure you drank it," he said sternly as he walked out, shutting the door behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Andros stood in his room, looking in the mirror. It had been a week since the incident. The jumpsuit he was wearing had had the left sleeve removed because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to fit his arm in with it in the splint. As he had known it would, the mark from the incision had almost totally disappeared and it was only a week since it had happened. His chest didn't hurt continuously anymore; however it still flared up when he had been playing hard with Zhane, something he tried not to do but was a nearly impossible task. The bruises were starting to disappear; however, a few were still tender.

He and Zhane were supposed to be going out today to get off of the base. Andros was worried because this would be really the first time he left the grounds since he had arrived there. Just then the door nudged open and he jumped. It scared him if anyone tried to enter without announcing themselves because of Zimri.

"Oops, sorry, Andros, I forgot for a minute," Zhane called from the other side of the door.

"It's okay, you can come in, Zhane," Andros called as he went to sit down on his bed.

"You alright?" Zhane asked, and Andros just nodded, "Well, this ought to be interesting; I was just downstairs and Ture arrived. He sure took his sweet time arriving."

Andros' eyes widened. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"Well, I know for sure that unless someone is crazy, Zimri will not be restored but I highly doubt he will face any charges beyond his expulsion. It's unfortunate how much children like the rest of us can get away with just for being who we are; while we are to protect the law its almost as if we are above the law," Zhane explained as Andros dropped his head.

Gaynor knocked on the door. "Hey, you two, Ture just arrived and Kin-Won wants to see everyone, including you, Andros, downstairs ASAP."

Andros looked at Zhane and Zhane just shrugged in return. They both stood up and left the room following Gaynor down the stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs Andros looked to see a man that looked a lot like Zimri standing with Kin-Won and he didn't look happy. He watched as the five rangers-to-be lined up with Gaynor first, followed by Esiila, who was standing next to Kasch, followed up by Azalia and Zhane. Hurrying to stand beside Zhane, Andros looked a little sheepish and hung his head slightly. Zhane indicated that he should raise his head and look at Kin-Won and Ture in the eyes. He mimicked Zhane's pose as best he could and stood at attention while he listened to the two adults banter on.

"I don't know what the big fuss was about that made me come all the way here abandoning my mission, Kin-Won. If my son was reckless in any way, you could have just contacted my estate and my people would have taken care of any of the damages," Ture said.

"Yes, I could have done that, but it doesn't change the fact that the order has come across that he be expelled," Kin-Won explained to the man.

"Kin-Won, what could my son have possibly done that would get him expelled and his rights as my heir revoked?" the man demanded, oblivious to Andros or the rangers in training.

"Where should I begin Ture? The rule breaking, the beating up of members of this base? Do you want me to continue Ture?" Kin-Won demanded.

"No, but I want clarification on these charges. And why do you have the other rangers in training assembled?" he asked, finally noticing them.

"And is that an assistant to one of the rangers?" he said, noticing Andros. "Go on, boy, you should know you place. Get lost," Ture said, trying to shoe Andros out of the room.

"No, Ture, I asked Andros to join them. He knows his place but the fact is he is related to this case. Six months ago, Andros was placed in my care to fulfill a promise I made to his father," Kin-won explained.

"So does it look like I care? Did I ever care about the stupid assistant program? No, I never did. In fact, if my son is the reason he has that splint on his arm I say good for my son."

Andros felt sick as he heard the man speak. How could he be so harsh towards someone just because of how they were born and the class they were born to? He didn't sound much like his hero the red ranger he had heard so much about from when he had been growing up at home with his parents. He felt like crying and he knew Azalia knew it too, because though she stood at attention her eyes shifted ever so little in his direction.

Kin-Won looked Andros' way. "I think we should continue this behind closed doors seeing as it is not going as productively as I had hoped."

As soon as Kin-Won and Ture went into the office and closed the door the Rangers in training turned to Andros. "Andros, I know he is a jerk but you have to try to compose yourself better," Kasch said to his face.

Azalia turned to Kasch. "He wasn't raised how we were; he has never been conditioned to stand in a salute that long. Go easy on him," she said as she turned and stalked off going her own direction.

Slowly, everyone started to leave and go their own directions to do what they wanted to do, seeing as there was no training. Andros started to head back to his room where he was going to finish getting ready to go out with Zhane to get off the base when Esiila stopped him.

"Andros, I know you had plans, but I was wondering if you would come with me to the computer core. I want to investigate some things my uncle seems quite suspicious; he had a certain glint in his eye when he looked at you."

An hour later, Andros was sitting beside Esiila as she searched the databases for anything that looked relevant to her uncle. She finally found an article that looked relevant, but when she clicked on it, a message came up informing them that it was in a protected folder and an access code was required to enter. On the code line there were places for ten numbers.

"Oh, come on what kind of a code has ten numbers," she exclaimed. As she looked around for inspiration, her gaze fixed on Andros' locket. "Andros, can I see that for a minute?"

Andros gave her a questioning look before slipping it off his head and handing it to her.

"Andros, you said your father gave you this, right?" she asked, and he nodded. "Is your sister's exactly like this one?"

Again he nodded and gave her a questioning look. He watched as she looked it over turning it around in her hands. She opened it up and looked it all over. She was about to hand it back to Andros when she caught a glimpse of the reflection of the locket on a shiny surface; the designs when turned backwards in a reflection took on the appearance of numbers, She immediately started decoding the designs of the locket. When she was through she had filled up each number spot on the codes line. She handed the locket back to Andros.

She hit enter and to her surprise the code went through. Now she was puzzled; why would the son of a laborer have a locket with a pass code encoded onto it? Andros looked at her as he put his locket back around his neck. He had gotten good at doing everything with his right arm in the last week.

"Guess what; I'm in!" she said, sounding excited as the hidden and locked files showed up on the screen.

As she scrolled through the files, she gasped as she came to one that had Andros' sister's name written as the title. She opened it and started scrolling through it. "Oh my goodness, Andros, look at this. It's about your sister's kidnapping."

Andros turned around and looked on the screen reading the article. "Zimri's father was the one who pulled the plug on the search on my sister? He said it wasn't worth the while to be searching for a commoner's daughter," he gasped, as he summarized the article.

Esiila clenched her fist as she read it. "I can't believe my uncle could be so mean. He is almost worse then his son, if not worse, but this is one article. Do you want me to see if I can find anything else related?" she asked, and he nodded, so she backed up the search till she was back at the list of files. Just out of curiosity, she hit the sort by date tab and the files reorganized.

She found an article that had been entered fairly recently. It was a personal journal entry written by Ture himself. She gasped as she looked through a few more files before going back to the last file. "I don't know how but somehow we hacked into my uncle's personal network. These all are files in his personal database, Andros."

She read the file a bit then summarized it to Andros eager to log out of the database as soon as she could. "My uncle, Andros, he had your father killed for some reason. It wasn't an accident, they had some form of grudge as children; I am not sure what as it isn't clear but we need to take this matter to Kin-Won."

Esiila and Andros ran to Kin-Won's office to find him doing paperwork and Ture nowhere in sight. "Kin-Won," Esiila cried as she ran into the office. "First, I want to apologize for looking at restricted files in the database but my curiosity got the best of me. I found a file here in the database that allows a hack into my uncle's personal network. My uncle was behind the halt of the investigation of Andros' sister and I found a personal entry log that said he was behind Andros' father's death."

Kin-Won raised his hand to signal her to stop. "Yes, I knew about the hack. I was aware of the grudge between your uncle and Andros' father. It happened right here inside these walls." He explained and Andros got wide eyed. "Emmett was Ture's assistant; however, he didn't last long here before he was blackmailed out. I knew your father, Andros, was a righteous man and that he couldn't have done half the things that were laid claim to so we worked together through out the years to try and clear his name. We hacked Ture's files and found out some of the information; however, Ture caught on and had your father murdered, Andros."

Andros fell to his knees and cried. It hurt him to know the truth. After a few minutes, he wiped his tears and looked at Kin-Won, "Were you just using me as a tool to try to clear my father's name?"

Kin-Won shook his head. "No, I was never doing that. I saw a look in your eyes that told me you could stand against the storm that your father was never able to." He paused and looked at Esiila. "Esiila, take him upstairs and pack a bag of civilian clothes. It is going to get rough in here for the next few days. When you have that done, take him to this address. I have a friend there who will take him in till this cools down."

He handed her a piece of paper. "You must hurry, though, because Ture will be returning with Zimri very shortly."

Esiila did just as she was told and within five minutes they had a bag packed and were running out a back entrance so they wouldn't be seen by her uncle if he happened to return before they got out of the neighborhood. When they got to the address, they stopped briefly to straighten their messed hair and make themselves look presentable to meet a stranger. Going up to the door Esiila knocked and when the door opened she curtsied.

"Are you Tykwa?"

"Yes I am. How may I help you two?" the woman asked, and noticing the symbol on their uniforms, she ushered them inside. "You were sent by Kin-Won weren't you?"

Esiila nodded and Tykwa continued as she looked at Andros. "You're Emmett's son, aren't you? You look just like him."

"Kin-Won told me to bring Andros here to stay for a few days until he can settle things down at the base," Esiila explained and Tykwa cocked an eyebrow. "Ture is at the base trying to get his son, my cousin, restored to his station and Ture was behind Emmett's death and Zimri, Ture's son, was the one who beat Andros into this condition."

"I see," she sighed, looking at the two children. "We put this plan together several months ago, knowing when Kin-Won took you in, Andros, that it would come to this." She paused as she pulled something out of her desk. "Esiila, before going back to the base, stop at the market and pick these things up. It is your cover story if your uncle questions why you left the base. Say nothing about bringing Andros to me. Just pick these up and when you return just go right to Kin-Won's office and set them on his desk. If your uncle asks you anything about running errands tell him you were bored and volunteered to go to just give you something to do."

Esiila ducked her head before taking the supply list and the change pouch before leaving the house.

Tykwa turned to Andros. "How about we get you upstairs and all settled in?" She led him upstairs and into a spare room where she took the bag and put the clothes away in some drawers, leaving one set out. "Change into this and hide your jumpsuit so that if anyone was searching this room it wouldn't be found, then come down stairs and I will fix you an early dinner."

"Why do I need to hide my jumpsuit?" Andros asked as she started to leave the room.

"There is no guarantee you are safe even here for the next few days. If you hide it and someone comes and searches the room, how are they to tell that it is you who is staying here?"

Andros nodded and as soon as she left he did as he was told. Coming down the stairs, he found Tykwa in the kitchen cooking something for an as-promised early dinner. However, he got a surprise when she told him to sit at the table and put his left arm on the towel that was sitting there. He looked at her questioningly but obeyed.

"Andros this is probably going to hurt a fair bit but the splint is regulation, so I am going to have to take it off and hide it for the time being. I have a temporary one but it is made for sprains and after this kind of splint is no longer needed. It will allow for your arm to move more but try to resist moving it, alright? It will serve to restrict the motion and keeping you from rebreaking those already broken bones in that arm."

Gently she released the clamps that kept his wrist motionless. He bit his lip as the movement across his skin made the pain flare back up. As she went to remove the second clamp in the same area, he just about screamed. She handed him an apple and told him to bite into it if he felt the urge to scream. By the time she had undone all the securing clamps he had bitten through ten different apples splitting several of them nearly in half. However, that wasn't the end of the torture, as he found out.

Gently, she removed his arm from the splint and placed it on the towel, where she gently rubbed it down with some warm soapy water. Every little rub on his skin felt like torture. After drying it off, she gently placed his arm in the temporary splint and did the straps up tightly enough to immobilize his wrist, but as soon as she was finished he realized how right she was that it wasn't as sturdy as his old one.

After she was done she picked everything up and hid the splint. He sat there holding his arm and fighting back the tears from the agony. Tykwa soon brought the food over and along with it she brought a mild painkiller. It was nothing compared to what he had gotten from the infirmary but it numbed the pain a small bit.

LLLL

Later that night, Andros tried to sleep in the strange bed; however whenever he moved he found his arm in a very uncomfortable position. He didn't know when he finally slept but he knew he didn't get much of it. The same routine happened for the rest of the week.

It was Sunday before he saw anyone from the base and then it was Azalia and Gaynor. They walked up to the door and Andros hid as Tykwa had told him to anytime anyone came to the door, even if he knew who they were. When she let them in, he came out of his hiding spot. The first words out of his mouth were, "Can I come back to the base now?"

Azalia laughed. "Yes that's the whole reason we were sent here to get you. The ceremony for removal is later today and Kin-Won wants you there."

He got a huge smile on his face; he wanted nothing more then to go back sleep in his own bed and get his real splint back on. He didn't think he could stand another day with the flimsy one on.

Tykwa nodded and led the three of them into the kitchen where she changed the splint back to the hard one. It hurt just as bad putting on the hard one but he tried not to scream. He just nearly twisted Azalia's arm off every time she did something. "There, when you get a chance it will have to be resized in the infirmary, but it will do for now."

Going up to the room he put his jumpsuit on and left with Azalia and Gaynor. Upon arriving at the base, they led him straight to the auditorium where everyone else was and took a seat in the front row with them and the rest of the rangers in training.

The first to walk out on stage was Zimri and when that happened Andros' five friends stood at attention in respect to their former teammate. During this time his badges and insignia were removed from his uniform and it was announced that he was hereby forbidden to be within a hundred meters of the base and that if he broke that or any other rule he could face banishment. He was led between two armed guards and forced to stand between them for the rest of the ceremony.

It shocked everyone greatly when two more armed guards approached Ture and took him into custody and led him towards Kin-Won, where it was announced that he was as well here by stripped of his title and power. The morpher was removed from his wrist and he was sentenced to the removal of all his property and estate along with twenty years of jail time in the Eltarian imperial prison for misusing his power.

Ture was led to the wall as well and forced to watch the next part, which surprised everyone. Kin-Won turned to address the audience. "As you all now know, we no longer have a red ranger in training or an active red ranger. As such, I am standing here now to announce who the next person is that will train to be the red ranger."

He paused as he searched the crowd before letting his eye's fall on Andros. "Andros, will you please come up here?"

Andros remained sitting, not really registering what had happened in the last few moments until Kasch started pushing him towards the stage. When he got up there, Kin-Won placed his hands on his shoulders and turned him around. With out asking out loud the other rangers in training walked up and stood at attention.

Kin-won turned to them. "Will the five of you agree to follow Andros and take him one day as your team leader?"

Each one of them nodded individually and after picking up a uniform jacket similar to what they wore and draping it over his shoulders, he led Andros to stand at the end next to Gaynor. The whole audience stood and applauded Kin-Won's decision.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning Andros awoke to the sound of Zhane jumping on his bed. "Come on, rise and shine, red ranger."

He groaned and then sat up as fast as he could. "You mean I wasn't dreaming?"

"Nope, it was very much real. Now you need to put on your new uniform and meet Kin-Won downstairs for your first debriefing, and then you have to go to the air field with Kin-Won and deliver your predecessor to the awaiting Eltarian official." He jabbered out the itinerary for the day before adding, "Plus, you have to be back to meet with your tutor at nineteen hundred hours. Welcome to the life of being a ranger." Zhane smiled and bolted out the door before he got in trouble.

Sighing, Andros got out of bed and found his new uniform folded on his dresser. He struggled into it, finding it a lot more difficult to get into then his jumpsuit. Downstairs, Kin-Won greeted him with a good morning followed by a 'you're late' speech. However, he excused him after telling him that seeing as it was his first morning as red ranger.

Andros had never realized how full Zimri's schedule had been and he had training on the schedule, something that Andros couldn't do for at least a week more or until the doctor cleared him. By the time he sat down with his tutor that evening he was exhausted and could barely keep his eyes open through his lessons. When it came time for dinner if it weren't for Zhane's laughter and jokes, he probably would have been doing a faceplant on his plate.

Kasch laughed. "I think someone is exhausted from his first day as a ranger in training."

Andros rolled his eyes. "How do you do it, your schedules never seemed so busy when I was just an assistant."

Gaynor smiled. "We have it all figured out, our parents raised us so that we would be ready for this day," he said, making it sound like everything was smooth as pie.

"Raised to prepare for this day? I was born ready for this." Kasch smiled, which earned him a whack over the head from Azalia.

Esiila smiled and said, "If you want to go to bed, we can take care of anything else needed to be done for the day. Tomorrow is going to be an early day and an even busier day. We have press conferences to announce you as the red ranger as well as a few other visits plus before we do that you should wake up at least two hours earlier so you can practice standing at attention. Trust me, it won't look good if you keep fidgeting in front of the press."

Going to his room, Andros lay on the bed and screamed into his pillow before turning over and looking at the pictures of his mother, father and sister. Kissing each of them good night as he had done since he had come to live here, he fell asleep.

No sooner had he fallen asleep than he awakened in much the same way as the morning before. "Good morning, Andros. It's oh-five hundred hours and it's time to get up for your crash course in standing at attention."

Andros didn't want to get up so he rolled over and tried to pull the "just five more minutes" trick. He had his pillow pulled out from under his head and thrown onto the floor.

"Zhane? Why do you have to wake me up this way?" he demanded as he sat up

"It's easy. Andros, you were supposed to get up half an hour ago but you didn't set your alarm. Everyone is waiting for you in the lounge," Zhane said, crawling off the bed and heading to the door to wait outside.

Ten minutes later, when Andros had brushed his hair and managed to get his arm into all the different sleeves of his uniform, he walked out to find Zhane still waiting for him.

"Alright," he grumbled, "happy?" as he walked alongside his friend.

When they got to the room, Azalia was holding a small object shaped like a disk. "Andros, you're late. Come on, we have a lot to work on before oh-six-thirty comes around. We have to meet Kin-Won in the dining hall for a breakfast meeting before we leave for the press conferences."

She took his good arm and made him stand stalk still in a position facing the sitting area. "We are going to start with five minutes. You move even enough to make this disk twitch you have to start over."

"What!" he gasped as she placed the disk on his head after positioning it at the angle he had to keep it. Stepping back from him, she sat down while someone timed it the five of them watched the disk.

The first time he didn't even make it a minute before the disk went tumbling off his head when he reached to itch his shoulder. "How do you guys do this for so long?" he asked, as Esiila walked up and placed it back on his head.

"That was not long; you barely stood there for a minute and that is child's play. Andros, by the time we were your age, we could go over half an hour of standing still like this and it doesn't stop; at least, I know myself that I do it for at least half an hour before bed once a week. You have to ignore your body when you get itches," she explained as she set the disk back on his head.

Andros sighed but stood straight and stared ahead. This time around he made it two minutes before twitching such a small twitch that the disk only just wiggled on his head. Zhane looked on. "Andros, I'm sorry but you have to start over." He paused before resetting the timer. "At least you didn't knock the disk off this time, that has to be progress."

Four minutes later, Andros was standing there and he had several itches but he was trying his best to ignore them. The one that was his downfall that time was his nose. It started to itch but he didn't scratch it; he just stared at his nose as if he was looking at something sitting on his nose.

"Time," Gaynor called. "you have to stare straight at us. It doesn't work otherwise."

He reset the time and to Andros' amazement, he made it the whole five minute this time around. As soon as Gaynor called time he pumped his fist in the air and the disk dropped.

To his disappointment, Kasch came over and put it back on his head. "Now we need to try for ten minutes. You're going to need to stand still for at most ten minutes during a press conference. You only move if asked a question, so begin again." He returned to sit down and watched the clock.

Andros managed to make it seven minutes before his nose started itching again. The middle of his back started to itch as well and he had no choice but to rotate his shoulder in an attempt to get rid of the offensive feeling. He was proud when he was able to move his shoulder and not knock the disk off his head. When he had satisfied the urge just a bit he said, "I know, I know begin again," and prepared himself for another ten minutes which this time he ignored all the itches and managed to stand straight for ten minutes.

Azalia walked over. "I knew you could do it, Andros."

He smiled back at her and went to remove the disk from his head. "But you need to run it again to make sure you can really do it." She began the time again and he stood there hating them for this torture so early in the morning.

He didn't know how long he was standing there, but he knew that he knocked the disk off. As he bent over so she could pick it up and replace it, Zhane started to laugh. "What are you doing, Andros?"

"I'm going to put this disk on my head and begin again because you didn't call time, so I must not have finished."

"Oh no, you did, we were just seeing how long you could go. You went fourteen minutes that time." Zhane smiled as Andros walked over and punched him on the shoulder.

Everyone broke into laughter as Kin-Won poked his head in the door. "You six sure are up early."

"Yeah, we were making Andros learn how to stand still so he won't make a fool of himself in front of the press this morning," Kasch said, smiling. "He didn't like that Zhane had the smart idea to pull a fast one and see how long he could keep the disk on his head while thinking it was only ten minutes that had passed."

"Oh, and how long was he able to hold the position?" Kin-Won asked, as Andros glared at his teammates.

"Fourteen minutes," Azalia reported with a smile. "I would say that was better than you, Gaynor."

He gave his sister a questioning look, and she added, "If I remember right, and I know I do, Father had to give you extra drill practices between your eleventh birthday and the day you entered the training program. I am pretty certain that as of your eleventh birthday you could barely do the ten minutes needed for press conferences, much less hold the required half hour that needed to be mastered before you could enter training here at the base."

"Thanks a lot, sister, for embarrassing me," Gaynor said, flying after his sister, who had jumped up and run to the other side of the room in a game of keep away.

LLLL

Half an hour later, they were sitting at a table in the cafeteria eating with Kin-Won while all the support staff and trainees walked in and out getting their breakfast.

"Rangers, I know today is an off day that we don't normally spend all day going from press conference to press conference but today we are going to be. We have four press conferences scheduled around town and in a few of the bordering villages, also a few of the village schools have requested school visits so that the children may meet the boy, you, Andros, who has done the impossible and become the first to be trained as a ranger without being born into a ranger family."

Andros played with the food that sat before him and didn't say a word so Azalia grabbed his shoulders and whispered something into his ear. Grabbing his ponytail, she made him nod his head. "Azalia, do you mind," he said, swatting her hand away.

"Andros, what is wrong? You need to talk to your team as well as me. Understanding your teammates both mentally and emotionally is a big part of a ranger team," Kin-Won said.

"I had no idea training to be a ranger would be so hard," he mumbled, still not looking at the others.

Kin-Won smiled. "Andros, it's really not as hard as it is right now. It just seems hard because you at eleven have hardly broken the ice on what they have learned since birth. It will get better as you learn more."

Andros picked his head up slowly and looked through the corner of his eyes at everyone.

"How about this, we will pace the discipline as well as the principles of being a ranger throughout the next week, and then after that we will work out a schedule for when you can return to the training mats."

Andros nodded and picked his head up slowly before finishing his breakfast with a lighter mood. After breakfast everyone stood up and Andros followed to find they were returning to their rooms. "What are we doing now?"

Esiila looked at him. "We have to get ready for the press conferences. You will find in your closet a dress uniform hanging up in your closet. Oh, and bring the hanger it is on as well as the uniform you are wearing now. We will have to change after the press conferences into our normal uniforms for the school visits." She disappeared into her room and he went down to his.

Opening his closet, he found the uniform just where Esiila had told him it would be. Pulling it down, he found it to be a red and grey three piece uniform with buttons that had to be done up on both the shirt and jacket. The grey pants were similar to the pants that were part of the normal uniform, but when it came to the shirt he felt useless with his arm in the splint. He might have been able to manage but because of the way the splint was his thumb was partially immobilized.

Ten minutes later Esiila peeked in. "Andros, you ready?" she asked, and then she saw him standing there with the shirt on but unbuttoned, "Oh, I totally forgot the buttons. They are impossible to do one-handed."

She wore a yellow skirt that fell to her mid-calf, and a grey shirt. Her outfit was completed by a yellow vest and yellow neck guard that tucked into her vest, making it look as if the shirt wasn't buttoned because it covered all the exposed shirt buttons.

She bent down and secured the buttons on his shirt before searching his pile for the neck guard. "Andros, did you see a yellow neck guard with this?"

He shook his head, and she with his permission searched his dresser. "Here it is, it got misplaced and was in your dresser." She placed it around his neck and fastened the one toggle in the back before helping him put his jacket on. Securing the button, she smiled. "Come on, the others are probably wondering where we are, and Gaynor is probably jealous." She laughed as she led the way down the stairs.

Azalia grinned from where she stood at the door in her pink dress uniform which was almost identical to Esiila's. "Wow, you look so much better in that uniform then Zimri ever did," she laughed as she opened the door to reveal their transport. Climbing in, he found that Zhane, Kasch, and Gaynor had already made themselves at home inside.

During each of the different press conferences, he stood next to Gaynor and he knew that during at least one of them he let his mind wander. If it wasn't for the fact that Gaynor had been the one talking he probably would have made a fool of himself.

When they made the pit stop to change back into the regular uniforms before going to the schools, Esiila helped him unbutton his jacket and shirt before getting herself changed as well.

On the drive to the first school they were all much more relaxed, and Gaynor was laughing. To Andros' surprise, he was telling him that he did alright for his first series of press conferences. "You mean you're not upset that you had to remind me during one of the conferences to stand still?"

"Nah, it was your first series and you tried your hardest, we were expecting you to make a few mistakes," Kasch said with a smile.

As they rode towards the first school, Andros for only a brief moment looked out the window, realizing which village they were heading towards. His, or rather his former village, considering the house he had lived had most likely been sold. He knew he would also see the house, seeing as the road they were taking went right past the house and on the way to the school.

Kin-Won, who was sitting in the front seat with the driver, peeked back through the mirror and saw Andros watching the houses going by. When they past the house, tears crept down his face, seeing that it had indeed been sold and that in the front yard a young woman was enjoying the noon air with her young child.

"Andros, it's alright; yes, the house was sold but the money from the sale was put into a trust fund for you when you get older and everything that had value or family importance were put into storage. It's all waiting for you when you get older and start your own family."

Andros nodded and watched as the house passed, memories flashing through his eyes of his mother playing with him in the front yard just as that mother was now doing with her child.

When they arrived at the school, the principal came out to meet them. "Welcome, Kin-Won. I am glad you agreed to come today," she greeted them as Andros climbed out the other side with the rest of his teammates.

Kasch whispered, "You went to school here? Wow, this place looks like it needs a good coat of paint." He tried not to be rude but it couldn't be helped.

Andros looked at Esiila. "Do you think my former classmates know that I am going to be the new red ranger?"

"I don't know, Andros, it all depends on how much their parents keep them up on current events," Esiila whispered, before handing him a handkerchief. She told him to wipe his eyes so it didn't look like he had just been crying. "Andros, also just know that once they find out, if they don't already know, that they are probably going to try and treat you differently just because of how rangers are associated in society. But you need to just let them know that while you may be a ranger, you are no different than you were when you were their classmate."

Andros nodded handing her handkerchief back to her. Walking around to where Kin-Won and the school principal were talking, they stood at a relaxed attention. Andros sort of stood back a bit, fighting off his nerves about returning to his former school. When the principal finished talking she turned to Andros. "Well, Andros, you sure are making quite a name for yourself. How does it feel to go where no other normal citizen has gone before?"

Andros just shrugged and stepped back a step, causing the principal to laugh. "Well, I see some things never change; you're still as shy as you were when I last saw you."

Esiila smiled. "But he has grown up a lot since we first met him six months ago."

"Well, that is very good to hear. Shall we go inside? It is almost time for the noon break before everyone goes home for the day. This will give you the opportunity to interact with all the children on a personal level. We planned it this way so it wouldn't be an in the classroom type visit. The kids can come and talk to you as you please. But you know what I mean, right?"

They all nodded and followed her inside to the gym with the attached playground. "Make yourselves at home in here, and don't hesitate to start a game with the children, if you want to, of course."

She left them there for a few minutes and soon after the students came running in, eager to get their energy out before going home. They had not been told of their special guests and a few of them freaked out when they saw them standing there in their gym.

Andros was still suffering from nerves and had hidden himself behind the others, who, with the exception of Zhane, were taller then he was.

One of the girls who Andros had used to be chummy with came over and started asking for their autographs. "How come it's just you five, where is the red ranger?" she asked. "I had a friend who used to admire the red ranger, but I haven't seen him since last school year."

He thought as he looked between Azalia and Gaynor that evidently Malissa had not heard about where he had gone. Then came his worst nightmare of the day; Malissa would be all over him in a second if she knew he was here and at the thought of that he knew his ribs were going to hurt.

"Oh, our red ranger is here, the whole reason we are making visits is because we have a new red ranger in training who just last year was a normal school kid just like you," Azalia said with a smile on her voice. Before she stepped aside, Gaynor gave him the good luck sign, but nothing could prepare him for the screech that was about to let fly in the gym.

"ANDROS!" He could swear that every head in the gym turned as Malissa ran and hugged him as hard as she could. He was surprised her hug didn't knock him over, but the weight on his chest did cause him some pain, and by the way Esiila separated her from him and made him sit down while making sure he didn't lose consciousness, he knew his color must have drained. He must have looked like he was going to pass out, but he didn't, and after a few moments he recovered.

Malissa looked very concerned. "Did I hurt you, Andros?"

Esiila helped him stand up as all the other children looked at him with worried expressions.

"No, I'm alright," he said, biting back the pain in his voice. "I am just sore from a fight I got into two weeks ago with the former red ranger in training. I learned the hard way on how hard rangers can fight." He paused and then took off his jacket slowly revealing the splint on his arm.

Most of the children had never been in an accident serious enough to have a splint as heavy duty as the one Andros had on, so several of them tried to touch it and one kid in the back asked. "Can you still play with us even though you are a ranger now?"

Andros looked at his older teammates and Gaynor smiled. "Of course Andros can still play with you guys, just because he is a ranger in training doesn't mean he can't make time to visit his friends. We all need friends in life. How about we all play a game of ciceáil liathróid, we enjoy playing that game in our free time."

Everyone cheered and screamed that it was their favorite as well, and that they wanted to be on whatever teams the rangers were on. Kasch stood up. "Hey, hey, cool down, no one ever said all six of us were going to play on the same team. We will team everyone up and then we will split our selves up as well so that each team will have three of us on it." He paused as he looked around. "Everyone, line up so we can count you off."

No sooner did he say that than all eighty children were scrambling for a place to stand on the line. A few of the seven year olds fell in the chaos, seeing as they were the youngest and usually smallest that attended this school.

Once everyone was in line, Esiila gave the seven year olds their teams first, seeing as they had been pushed around by the older kids. Kasch split up the older children so that there would be an even amount of seven year olds and an even number of twelve year olds on each team. Azalia and Gaynor split the rest up by counting from the ends towards the middle and splitting them up like a curtain.

Once everyone was split up, Andros and Zhane came over from where they had been mingling with kids their age who didn't want to play. It just so happened that Malissa was one of the girls who didn't want to play and before Andros could move away she asked, "Andros, are you sure you can play? Wouldn't you like to sit here and cheer them on?"

"Not really, I can still run and my legs are fine, so I think I will play. We did promise all six of us would play the game with them. I will be fine, so please let me go, Malissa," he said, walking away from her and her pleading face.

He ran to catch up with Zhane, who was walking backwards watching the two of them. "Hey Andros, I think she likes you," he teased, "and you know what, that isn't really fair. I am older then you, so I should have a girl before you."

"She is not my girl, she was a friend. Now, I don't know, I find her a little bit annoying. Either she has changed or someone gave her a pound of sugar this morning." Andros shook his head.

"Nah, I think she likes you and that she was excited to see you." Zhane smiled.

Andros just glared at him. "You're teasing me, aren't you?"

"Sure, if that is what you want to think, then yes, I am teasing you." Zhane placed a hand on Andros' shoulder before running off and joining one team, while Andros joined the other with Esiila and Kasch. Gaynor and Azalia joined the other team.

At the end of their time, Kasch regretted making his earlier comment about the condition of the building because Kin-Won made an announcement to the students and faculty. "Because of a recent incident surrounding the events that got your classmate the position on the ranger in training team, there was an excess amount of money given to the ranger academy. We in return would like to donate a portion of it to this school for renovations and as an encouragement for all you students to help out, we will be coming back in about a month to sponsor a work day in which we will be putting in a new playground and giving the outside of the building a new coat of paint."

After that, they ended up sticking around a little longer because a few children wanted to introduce their parents to the Power Rangers in training. When they finally climbed into their transport to head to the other school, which just happened to be an afternoon school whereas Andros' old school was a morning school, Kasch sighed.

"Why can't I ever keep my mouth shut? It was because of my comment when we got there that Kin-Won is having us do a work day to improve the quality of the school."

"Hey, it's a good cause, Kasch, and besides when word gets out about Ture, we are going to need to rebuild our reputation," Esiila said.

Kin-Won looked back. "That is a good observation, Esiila, and just what I was thinking as well. I don't want to be the bad person, so I am letting reporters see Ture's whole database and all the crimes and frauds he committed over the years. You guys are going to have tough times as rangers, and community service and being involved with the public will make it easier."

Kasch groaned, rolling his eyes while Zhane smiled. "We have to do more of that, hanging out with area children. I almost forgot my status while we were there and was having fun."

He paused and looked at the others. "Don't get me wrong, but growing up our fun was much different. We, at least, my parents treated me like a prize to be getting up on the shelf, they picked my friends." Everyone gave him a puzzled look. "Haven't you guys wondered why I sneak out on free days in civilian clothes every now and then? I do it so I can experience the freedom Andros has had his whole life."

Azalia raised her hand. "I admit to doing it once or twice when I first came to the base."

"Azalia, Zhane, there is nothing wrong with admitting it. When I was your age, I often wanted the freedom that other children had, but of course back then, the ranger academy didn't exist at the base so I never got the opportunity. Why do you think I put free days in the schedule other than for you to take the opportunity to explore the world outside the base's walls?"

Everyone except for Andros and Kasch sighed in relief, revealing that Gaynor and Esiila had done it.

The second school was more restricted. The principal there seemed to be under the impression that the rangers only worked and that these rangers in training didn't want to have fun with the children, so they visited each class room for a few minutes in a very scripted interview which bored a few of the children as well as Andros, who more then once had to be elbowed by Gaynor and Kasch to stay awake.

As they left in the transport, Azalia dropped her head. "Well, that was boring. I would have liked to play with the children like we did in the first school. I don't think those kids got a good idea of who we really are as people. The questions that were asked of us focused more on our training as rangers and such not what we like to do in our free time. I think if that principal had asked us what we would rather do on our visit the kids would have gotten so much more of an idea of who we are."

Andros was staring out the window. "I agree," he said distantly, the whole day had given him an idea of what he had missed in the last six months. As they drove past a park, he saw some kids playing. It gave him an idea.

"Headmaster Kin-Won?" he asked, while his mind was still off in the distance. "You mentioned community service. What if once a month we held an activity day or something where we could bring kids to the base and just play games in the field or something?" Andros sighed, and didn't Kin-Won think it a wonderful idea.

Ciceáil liathróid means kickball (AN: the language used is Gaelic and I used a translator. AHAY is the one who picked this to be a Kerovian language and I am just borrowing it as my language as well. I don't actually speak it so I have no idea if it is in the right context or word order.)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Andros sat in an examination room in the infirmary wing of the base, one of the doctors looking his arm over while they waited for the X-ray pictures to come back. It had been four weeks since the incident and two weeks since he had become the red ranger in training. He was falling into a routine and spent most of his free time during the day in the base library researching the history of the rangers; if only he could get his tutor to apply that towards his history credit but so far she was adamantly against it. Some days Zhane had to drag him away from the books and data files to keep him from overloading his mind on everything that the others had learned throughout their childhood in the matter of weeks.

The doctor walked out and a minute later came back in, placing the pictures up on a screen so Andros could see it. "Alright, Andros, your ribs and arm are both healed sufficiently that as long as you continue to wear a light weight splint when not training along with an arm protector when you are, I don't see why Kin-Won wouldn't let you start light battle training. No heavy simulations, though. First, though, I want you to do a few things for me. When I remove this splint I want you to bend your elbow, wrist, and thumb. Tell me if you feel any pain or stiffness; I expect you to have stiffness seeing as you haven't used either of those joints in the last month."

The doctor started removing the splint much like Tykwa had done three weeks ago. The only thing different was that it hardly hurt, though he did feel some pain as the pressure to his wrist and forearm was removed. "Doctor Iason, when you removed the splint I felt some pain, it wasn't that bad but you said you wanted to know of any pain."

"Yes, thank you Andros," he said, picking Andros' arm up, "tell me where you feel the pain the most." He applied some pressure in various places on Andros' arm.

"My wrist and mid-forearm where the second break was, although it's not a searing pain like it was a few weeks ago," Andros replied.

"Alright, thank you, Andros. Could you flex your elbow for me?"

Andros did as he was told and reported that his elbow only felt stiff.

"Now can you do your wrist?"

When he did, he winced as he felt the pain.

"Alright, it still hurts to move it? Can you try your thumb for me?"

His thumb didn't hurt nor was it as stiff as his elbow.

"Andros, I am going to put another splint on but this one will be smaller and will only demobilize your wrist. Here is what I want you to do, I want you to take it off when you aren't doing anything active and slowly rotate your wrist but stop if the pain is too much and only do it for a minute or two at a time. Then when you get a moment sometime next week, come and see me so I can recheck it. If you can move your wrist without much pain, then next week you can begin training," the doctor said, rewriting the orders. "Take this right to Kin-Won after I put the new splint on."

Once the splint was in place, the doctor showed him how to take it off and put it back on again before sending him on his way. As he left, Andros bowed in respect to the doctor and said, "Thank you Doctor Iason," before running out the door and not stopping till he got to Kin-Won's office.

Opening the door, he didn't find Kin-Won there like he usually did at this time of day. 'Maybe he's with the others giving them some additional training practice,' he thought, 'no he normally has me watch and take notes on their style when he does that.' He went to check the training rings anyway; however, he found them completely empty, not even a soldier was training in one of them. He walked around the whole base before going into the lounge to find it empty, or so he thought.

When he walked in all of his team jumped out and surprised him. "Andros, it's close to your eleventh year so we thought we would celebrate it like Kin-Won told us they do on Earth, but partially because this past year has been a year of change for you," Azalia smiled as she bounced down on the couch next to him.

"Thanks, guys, but I need to find Kin-Won. I have another week before I can begin training with you guys," Andros said, looking at his friends.

"Kin-Won had to get some supplies for this weekend. Remember, it was your idea to invite area kids to come spend a day playing games with us and getting to know that we are just like they are only a bit more highly trained," Gaynor remarked.

Kasch looked at Andros. "A week, you say?"

Andros nodded and looked back at Kasch.

"That's not good, not good at all."

"Kasch what's not good?" Andros asked.

"Improvement reviews are in two days. We all have to train in front of the Government leaders and show what kind of improvement we made over the last year, or in your and Zhane's cases, since when you entered," Kasch said.

Andros got a worried look in his eyes. "What happens if I'm not able to train beforehand or show improvement when they evaluate me?

Esiila sighed. "Andros, relax, I am sure Kin-Won has thought ahead to it, he knew there was a chance you wouldn't be able to do it. Anyway, you're not twelve, so technically you haven't become a ranger in training in the books yet. So you haven't officially been evaluated, even though I will tell you that some governmental leaders were watching you the first day you trained with Zimri."

Andros relaxed somewhat after he heard Esiila tell him that. In the last two weeks he had learned that Kasch liked to jump to conclusions and that Gaynor liked to be in charge, however if told to he would listen to his superior. Esiila was informative and knowledgeable on the goings on and Azalia was the excitable but trustworthy, you could confide in her and she would up your mood when it was in the dumpster. Zhane, he was the team prankster but he was also a good friend although he could be a mix of everyone depending on his mood. He was definitely unique.

"Alright, do you know when he is supposed to get back?" Andros asked, standing up and going to a couch that was by the window. As he did, he grabbed a book he had been reading earlier. Taking it with him, he lay down and removed the splint, doing as the doctor had told him to do.

"Nope, but if you want I am going up there to organize some files for a presentation I have to give to the governmental leaders on the changes in our training and program." Esiila said, "If you want I will tell him you need to see him when he gets in, Andros."

"Yes, thank you Esiila," he said, a bit distracted as he was reading about some of the first rangers and what they did to make a difference in the settling of the colony. He had his arm stretched out and he was doing the exercise the doctor had told him to do when Zhane came over and sat down on his hand. It took less then a millisecond for him to begin screaming in pain.

"ZHANE GET OFF MY ARM, I DON'T HAVE MY SPLINT ON AND YOU ARE KILLING MY ARM!"

Zhane jumped up and looked where he had been sitting. "Whoops, sorry Andros, I guess I wasn't paying attention." He looked again. "Hey why aren't you wearing the splint?"

Andros was sitting now and cradling his arm. "If you didn't notice earlier, I have a smaller one now and the doctor wants me to do exercises to try to get mobility back in my wrist." He stood up holding onto his arm, "I should probably go back down and have the doctor look at my arm again because the pain is almost unbearable now."

LLLLL

Later that night, Andros was laying in bed he looking at the ceiling, when there was knock on his door. "Andros, can I come in?"

He rolled over. "Yes, Zhane you can."

"I wanted to apologize for earlier, I really am sorry. I didn't rebreak your arm, did I?"

"No, you didn't, luckily. However, the doctor said if you had just shifted a bit more weight over my wrist you could have possibly," Andros said, sitting as he held his arm. "They did end up having to give me some painkillers."

He looked at Zhane again. "I forgive you, it was partially my fault for not telling you what I was doing."

Zhane smiled. "I'm still sorry Andros." He paused. "Could I see your new splint?"

Andros raised his hand up so Zhane could see but as he did it he shook his head; Zhane could have such a short attention span when it came to some things. He wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Zhane forgot all about it by breakfast time.

"Whoa, cool, this one is red and you can move your thumb, so that means you button your own dress uniform for press conferences," Zhane remarked.

"Wait, what, is that supposed to be hinting at something?" Andros asked, pulling back his blankets and sitting on the edge of his bed.

"It means what you want it to mean." Zhane started smirking before continuing, "Actually, yes, I just saw it on Kin-Won's office door. It was added less then an hour ago, so just after you came up here."

"Do you know what this one is about?" he asked as he searched for his slippers.

"Nope, sometimes there is no telling and the schedule for tomorrow doesn't say anything about the topic, but if I had to make a wild guess I would say it is about the activity and game day we are hosting on Saturday," Zhane said as he walked towards the door and down the hall to his own room.

Andros, on the other hand, walked down to check the itinerary board to just make sure Zhane wasn't pulling his leg. There indeed was a press conference scheduled for fifteen hundred at the center of town on the pavilion. 'Fourteen thirty,' he thought, that was when the schools, depending on if the were a morning or afternoon school, were either starting or releasing so there would be swarms of kids walking through the center of town at that time. He was going to guess that was what it was about as well.

The rest of the day was training for the others. He was supposed to watch and take notes on four hours of training, along with his bookwork and meeting with his tutor, and a few other small tasks here and there. Flipping to Friday's itinerary, he nearly fainted when he was supposed to take written test on everything he had learned about the rangers. Just as he was about to head up the stairs, Esiila walked through, evidently on her own way to bed.

"Andros, I thought you went to bed over an hour ago?" she asked she reached the steps.

"I did, but I couldn't sleep, and then Zhane told me that he saw a new thing was added to the itinerary for tomorrow," Andros said, looking towards the door.

Esiila walked over and looked at the schedule. "Great, tomorrow is all prep for our tests, and during my hour off from training we have a press conference. That is just wonderful, that means I am going to be wearing my dress uniform while being all sweaty from training, that's great planning!" she exclaimed, having one of her girly moments which scared him somewhat so he just quietly snuck back upstairs and into the safety of his bed.

LLLL

His alarm woke him up at oh-six hundred that morning and after waking up, for a few minutes stood stalk straight in front of his mirror, putting the disk on his head. When it fell, he checked the time and found almost twenty-five had elapsed since putting it on his head. For him, that was his personal best. However, from what Azalia had said, he had to pick up another five minutes minimum by the time he turned twelve. Even though he had just over a year, he still worried.

The day rushed past, and before he knew it his alarm was ringing to announce Friday morning. That morning he found himself sitting watching his teammates sparring and demonstrating all their knowledge about securing low-class criminals that didn't require morphing. Lunch he found himself listening to Esiila giving her presentation. The first part of the afternoon he found himself watching the others perform simulations on how to take down a UAE agent unmorphed seeing as none of them yet had morphers. After they had to explain how and what they had done would be done different had they had their morphers.

The next part was what he had been dreading, and as he walked to the library, Zhane walked beside him. "Don't worry, this test should be a breeze with how much you have been reading. I took it when I was eleven, and as long as you read the questions carefully, you should do fine."

Andros just looked at Zhane, who looked like he had just been out in the rain, despite the fact that he stunk with B.O. from spending most of the day on the training mats. "Zhane, do the world a favor and while I do my test, you take a shower. If you go to meet with the leaders as you are, at least one of them will pass out."

"Yes red ranger, sir," Zhane said in a mocking voice before pausing. "Why, I do believe that is the first time you ordered me around besides me sitting on your arm, but that wasn't really an order." He grinned before shouting, "I would like to announce to the world that Andros' first unofficial order was to tell me to go take a shower."

"Zhane, stop it. I would hit you, but I'm afraid you might be toxic by the way you smell," Andros threatened and Zhane cut it out for a few seconds.

"What would you know about hitting me? Most of the time that you spent on the training mats was with Zimri and you were basically his target, you weren't allowed to strike him," Zhane taunted before running off as they reached the library doors.

Entering, Andros straightened his uniform and pushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear. Sitting at the designated spot at the table, he swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat.

The proctor put an electric notepad in front of him. It was programmed with the test, which looked to be fairly long. Pulling the stylus out from the back, he entered his personal information. Beginning on the questions, they at first seemed difficult, but after he read into them, he realized the answers were very elementary. Two hours later, he finally set the test down and at the proctor's nod, he bowed and left the room, sighing in relief.

Just then a voice behind him startled him. "Just finished your first written exam, I take it."

It was Esiila, but she looked different. She was wearing a full length dress in a soft yellow lightweight fabric; her light brown hair was curled and pinned up. She looked like a china doll that would break if he touched her.

"Esiila?" he questioned, looking at her.

"Don't go, there Andros." My parents are making me have dinner with them and they like to think of me as a precious jewel. What Zhane was saying a few weeks ago when we went to visit those schools was very true in my life. I just don't like to be reminded about it." She sighed. "Growing up, I longed to wear normal canvas dresses like the other little girls that walked past our sprawling mansion but no, if I wasn't learning the basics of fighting, I was dressed to please my parents, even though my mother was hardly around. She is a ranger like I will be."

"Have you ever worn a normal dress?" Andros asked.

"No, and I still want to. Every time I go near the marketplace, I look and dream what it would be like to own a dress that I could wear and fit in with." She sighed as she began walking down the hall.

"Then why don't you buy one, there's nothing stopping you. How often do your parents see you, much less the contents of your closet?" Andros asked.

"I don't know why I have never done it, but you know what, if we are going to start hanging out with the local children and doing community service, I should have at least one dress or outfit that could take some rough use. Much unlike this dress if I so much as sit, the wrong way the skirt or something on the dress will tear. Thanks Andros," she smiled, and just then they reached the lobby where Esiila's parents were waiting for her to arrive.

Andros found himself meeting for the first time Esiila's father, Tancredo, and her mother, otherwise known as the current yellow ranger, Ildiko.

"Esiila, darling, we were expecting you five minutes ago and you come from the long way around? There would be more class in coming down the stairs, and who is your little friend?" Tancredo said, opening his arms to his daughter and only child.

"Father, this is Andros," she said, introducing him to her parents.

Andros felt Ildiko look him up and down with a glare in her eyes. He wondered why the instant distaste before it hit him. Ildiko was Ture's twin sister. Tancredo ushered his daughter out the door as she glanced back at him with a sad smile on her face.

Later that night, Andros was sitting on the floor in his room, looking at a few things he had in his room when he heard Esiila return. Waiting a few minutes, he got up off of the floor and crept into her room. It was after curfew and he shouldn't have actually been out of his room, but he wanted to see her. Peeking into her room, he whispered in, seeing as the door was open a crack.

"Andros, you should be in bed," she whispered, looking back towards the door.

"I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to know how your evening went," he said, slipping into her room before someone could catch him out in the hall. She was laying across her bed with tears running down her face. Looking around, Andros saw a handkerchief on her dresser that was clean and folded, so he grabbed it. He climbed on her bed, handing it to her.

She sat up slowly and carefully, seeing as she was still in the fragile dress. "Thanks, Andros," she smiled as she dried her tears, "My stupid fault for asking my parents for a sturdier dress and they ream me out about how I am too good for one." She whispered, "Now I feel guilty because if I get one I will be going behind their backs, but it still doesn't change what I want."

"Then you should get one, Esiila." He said quietly, "I don't get why. It seems your parents think you are all so revered, don't they ask what you want?"

"No, that's just it. The five of us were raised knowing we had to take over our parents jobs when we got older. Our whole life was just one big what to do and what not to do. Every moment, something was thrown at us, explaining how we should act. Sometimes I thought the children of royalty had more freedom than I did, and I got to meet several during my so-called childhood." She paused and looked at Andros. "You really should go back to your room before you get caught. We might be able to get away with some things, but try and mess with Kin-Won on the curfew issue and you won't like the result."

Andros stood up and walked towards the door, and as he reached for the doorknob, he heard her stand up and go to her closet. Walking down the hall, he got to his door and opened it as he heard footsteps in the stairwell. He rushed to shut his door before he could be seen. He then tiptoed to his bed and climbed in. Only a second later, he heard Kin-Won open his door and look in before closing the door again.

The next morning when his alarm rang, he got up and dressed before running to Esiila's room. He found her standing in front of her mirror balancing her disk. Unfortunately, it fell as soon as she saw him standing near the door.

"Sorry, Esiila, I didn't mean to ruin your concentration," he apologized.

"No, Andros, it is alright. I wasn't much in the mood for practicing, anyway," she said, picking it up and placing it on her dresser. "I was just trying to kill time."

He grabbed her hand. "Come on, we have a few hours till everyone starts to arrive. Let's go get you a dress," he said, pulling her towards her door.

"Andros, I'm not so sure, my parents don't want me to have one and I don't like lying to them," She said trying to stall.

"So when that work day comes around in a few weeks you are just going to wear your uniform?" he asked.

She sighed and picked up off the dresser her little purse that she kept her allowance from her parents in. "I might not have liked going shopping with my mother, but I know a few places close by where she got clothes for our family.

They left by way of the same side door that they had gone through the day she had taken him to Tykwa's. Going into the marketplace, Andros led her through the early morning crowds. They had left their jackets behind, so no one knew they were from the ranger academy. "Andros, slow down, someone might think it suspicious. We should slow down and try to go with the crowd."

As she said, that he stopped and they were in front of a clothing store. She walked around for a minute, looking at all the clothes before she stopped at a rack that had a grey dress trimmed with bright golden yellow, pleated below the waist.

"Andros, do you like this one?" she asked, looking at him. He nodded so she held it up to her before setting it down. "It looks too dressy for what I am looking for."

Andros looked around and spotted another dress that was trimmed in a muted yellow, except this one was had a flat short skirt that fell above the knees and a pair of matching pants that were worn under the skirt.

"How about that one over there?" he asked, and she looked at it before grabbing it and holding it up to her.

Looking down she gasped, "It's perfect!" Then she saw the one that had been behind it, it was trimmed in a rose pink so she took it down as well. "Azalia told me once that she wanted a dress like this one as well once."

She bought both of them and in the end she bought the first one as well. Returning to the base, she ran to find Azalia and show what she had just bought and give her the other dress.

Andros stood with the boys in the lounge and watched as the two girls admired the new dresses and acted as if they were the most expensive, rarest things they had ever held. Gaynor shook his head. "Mother's going to kill her when she finds out about that dress. Our parents are just as adamant as Esi's parents." He paused. "Although, I must admit, Andros, I have never seen Esi this excited; at least not in the time we have been here at the base."

Kasch sat down in the chair behind him and put his feet up. "Our parents might not be pleased that you're the red ranger in training, Andros, but I think that Kin-Won's decision was the right one. You've brought a welcome change to our team."

Andros smiled as he looked upon the two girls, glad he had done what he had. Just then Zhane, who had stepped out of the room, came running in. "Parent alert, and I don't think they are very happy with Kin-Won."

The girls quickly shoved the new dresses into a cabinet and stood up as Kin-Won walked in leading, Ildiko, the blue ranger, Shyam, the pink ranger, Kalyca, the black ranger, Kerwin, and the silver ranger, Haruki. Andros stepped back behind Gaynor and Kasch as he watched the others parents come in. They stood in a line and had their arms crossed.

Andros watched as his five friends bowed their heads as if ready to take some form of punishment. To his surprise their parents walked over and hugged their respective children, which greatly surprised each one of them as well.

Ildiko spoke, seeing as since her brother's imprisonment she had taken over as team leader. "We just had a meeting with Kin-Won over the fact that you are hosting a… play date with the common children?" she paused as she looked at the five of them. "And he told us that you all aren't happy with your lives, would you mind telling us why?"

Gaynor, who to Andros' surprise had tears in his eyes, wiped them. "We really don't know why we were unhappy, but I think it was because of Andros joining us as a team that all our eyes were opened to the fact that we never had a moment to be just children. From the moment each of us were born we were pampered and prepared for the day we would move here before taking over the morphers. When Kin-Won chose Andros to take over the red morpher, we all had our eyes opened and saw that the galaxy is so much bigger than the world we were shown."

Everyone else nodded before he continued. "We all still want to be rangers but we want to have some time as well to just be normal children, even if we have to balance it with our training."

Shyam looked to his son. "Gaynor, son, you know that we only want what is best for each of you, but we must admit we just saw each of your test results from yesterday and they show marked improvement compared to last year's. Kin-Won tells us that he credits to the fact that you have been enjoying your training more since Andros came and even more since he was promoted to the ranger in training team."

Kalyca smiled. "We talked it over and decided that we wouldn't yell or scream at you to knuckle down anymore. We may not like the distractions that you are getting your noses into, but if it will help with each of your training, I say go for it."

Azalia gasped. "Mother you mean it, you are giving us permission to…" She broke off.

Esiila picked up. "Have fun and not have to go behind your backs?"

Kerwin and Haruki nodded as they looked at their sons. "Yes, we are. However we don't agree with but we can't exactly admonish what Kin-Won has been allowing for the last month."

Esiila gasped as her she ran and hugged her mother. "Then you and Father won't be mad at me for going behind your backs and buying a plain dress?"

"Actually, I knew about that, your father saw you and Andros sneak out this morning. Next time you sneak out make sure you don't use the door by the guest suites, and make sure someone isn't by the window watching. But no, we aren't mad, we only knew it was a matter of time before you cracked. You are almost fifteen; we knew that sooner or later you would just shrug your shoulders and throw what we told you out the door. We are just glad it was over a dress and not something to do with your ranger training," Ildiko said hugging her daughter back

Kin-Won cleared his throat. "At first, your parents came to me ready to declare mutiny on the program but after I showed them the test results which I will show you tonight after your guests leave, they relented as they told you."

Haruki knelt and beckoned for Andros to come over, so looking at his friends he walked to Zhane's father. "Andros, I want you to know that I appreciate the change you have made in my son. He is not having as much of his dangerous fun as he used to before you came here and I want to tell you that though Ture was my second cousin, I feel no resentment towards you taking his son's place. I long resented Ture and the way he raised his son."

Ildiko didn't say anything but Kalyca did. "We have only one request, and that is that you don't forget the actual purpose of being here is to get you ready for the day you take our jobs. And we all want you to see to it that Andros becomes the best red ranger he possibly can. Your future as a team rests on him."

Everyone smiled and Kasch just whistled. He still had his serious pessimistic look on his face, but for the first time he looked like he was actually human. There was a sparkle in his eyes that Andros had never seen before.

Kin-Won then looked out the window. "Well, your guests are arriving and they have all been promised the opportunity to play games with the rangers in training, so maybe you should go get changed and go play those promised games."

Esiila reached into the cabinet and pulled out her dresses, running to her room with the others to get changed. Coming out of her room, she straightened the cuffs on her new dress.

Gaynor walked out of his and let his jaw drop seeing his girlfriend in a plain dress. With her hair down and pinned at the back of her head, she looked so ordinary and he smiled; he liked her looking like that. He realized that the china doll look had not been what attracted her to him.

"Esi you look beautiful," he said as he greeted her, "and I don't mean just on the outside, you are glowing from the inside."

She smiled. "Thanks, Gaynor," and for just a second they stood in a hug. It only lasted a minute because soon Zhane came running out of his room, followed by Andros. They immediately broke apart so Zhane couldn't tease them.

Walking out doors, they each grabbed some of the sports equipment Kin-Won had bought for that day. Gaynor took a ball and started bouncing it on his head before balancing it for a second. All the kids started to laugh and the games commenced. At the end of the afternoon as the sun started to set, the last of the children left for home.

Going inside, they put the equipment away before going upstairs and collapsing on the chairs. Kasch smiled. "I think that was the most fun I have ever had."

Everyone laughed and slowly they dispersed to change back into their uniforms. Coming to dinner, they were all dressed in their uniforms. Sitting down in Kin-Won's private dining room, he handed them their test results. Everyone grinned to no end when they saw what their parents meant about the average rate of improvement had jumped from their last test. Kin-Won handed Andros his test last and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I think Andros deserves a huge round of congratulations. All the answers he could have possibly have known on his ranger history test, he got right."

"Alright Andros," Zhane cheered, "I told you the test would be a breeze."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Two weeks later, they had the work day that they promised to Andros' former school. Most of the kids also showed up and painted the walls outside, and then during the school break, the inside would be getting a much-needed TLC. Half of the group was working on the new playground which would have a full Ciceáil liathróid court, which more and more of the kids were playing since the day the rangers in training had played with them. Before that day the sport had been dying out. It was a good day and everyone was having fun.

By the end of the day, Esiila had a yellow face where she had been slapped by a paint brush in a paint war. Everyone was tired but happy as they looked at the work they had done for the school.

Andros was around back getting a paint canister that had been left behind when he heard something in the bushes that bordered the back of the school. He ignored the sound and went to pick up the paint canister. Just as he reached the canister, the whole feeling in the air changed and the world seemed to stand still. His wrist began to throb and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

He turned around slowly to come face to face with someone he hoped never to see again.

"Hello, Andros, been enjoying my birthright privileges?"

Andros backed up, knowing that there was a door just behind him that should be unlocked.

"I've come back to make sure such a worthless brat like you doesn't get the chance to hold such a treasured device as a morpher."

As he backed up he said in a low determined voice that came out as a whisper, "I'm not as defenseless as I was seven weeks ago, Zimri."

"Oh yeah, then why are you running away?" Zimri said, lowering his gaze and marching forward, gaining on him. Andros reached out to reach for the doorknob that was right next to him, only to have his arm knocked away by Zimri, who now stood in front of the door.

Andros looked around to see if there was a way he could make a bolt for it and be able to avoid his opponent. He was still much shorter then Zimri so that was an advantage if it came to low obstacles; however there was nothing low around. All the low branches had been trimmed back. His only weapon was an open half full canister of paint.

A can of paint, that could work; it would at least slow Zimri down and he was on the side that he could run back to the playground with a straight shot. He had to admit that Zimri scared him; he knew that what he had gotten for a beating didn't even break the ice of what he was capable of. 'No,' he thought, 'I can't be scared of him, fear is the worst weakness and if I am scared of him how will I be able to face Dark Specter's armies?' he asked himself silently.

He backed up a bit more and Zimri just stared at him. "You're scared of me, aren't you, boy?"

"No, I am not scared of you. I will never be scared of you."

Then all of a sudden, he saw his chance. Zimri stepped in a hole which caused him to fall a step behind his slow stalk up on Andros. He knew he only had one shot and a few seconds before he got back on task or even gained a step, so he swung the can at his opponent.

Turning as fast as he could, he ran and as he turned he heard the paint splash over Zimri, but he also heard him pursuing and his steps were gaining. He managed to make it to the end of the building and just come into sight of the others when Zimri grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back forcing him onto the ground.

He tried to crawl away and back into sight of where the others were but before he could do anything, Zimri was on top of him and as he did so memories of his last encounter with him came rushing back. "You know what, I am glad I am getting this opportunity because there is one good thing to not being stuck in that annoying ranger in training program. Despite losing all the respect and dignity I had before, I can carry a knife on me at all times." He reached to his belt and pulled out a very sharp blade.

Andros tried to struggle away, but was quickly pinned down with all of Zimri's strength. He tried to scream but found that Zimri had been expecting that because as soon as he opened his mouth, he had a large wad of something nasty tasting stuck in his mouth. Zimri wasn't an idiot; he had come prepared.

"If you by chance manage to live through this, here is something to remember me by." As he said that, he carved the letter Z into his side. It wasn't deep, but Andros tried to scream, only to have it muffled by whatever it was that was in his mouth.

Just then, Andros heard footsteps come running around the building. He heard Gaynor's voice just as Zimri started to plunge the knife into his chest. It didn't get far before he was knocked from his position. Gaynor was in the process of beating Zimri up.

"I can't believe I ever looked up to you, you idiot. If I could, I would accuse you of working for the UAE. You know that you'll face more then exile for stabbing; trespassing and stabbing are two very different crimes." Gaynor's voice rang out as he punched Zimri around before pinning him to the ground and knocking the knife out of his hands.

Andros felt his shirt become soaked by his blood, his vision was going black from the pain. Azalia sat beside him and removed the gag gently from his mouth. Ripping off the jacket she was wearing over her work clothes, she put pressure on his stab wound.

She kept talking to him, trying to keep him conscious. "Come on, Andros we need you, you have to hang on. Kin-Won is calling for a medical unit; they should be here anytime now."

She managed to keep him conscious until the medical unit got there and just as they pushed her away everything went black. He woke up the next morning in the infirmary.

"Andros!" Esiila whispered, "You gave us quite a scare, and you don't have to worry about Zimri anymore. He was given a fast trial and has been exiled for life, and must serve fifteen years in the Eltarian Imperial prison first."

Andros tried to sit up but Esiila kept him down. "The doctor said he wants you to stay lying down for a couple of hours or until he rechecks your wound. They sealed up the wounds but they don't want you aggravating it. You're lucky we got to you in time; it wasn't that deep. We only came running because we figured you had been gone too long for just picking up a can of paint."

Andros was aware of the nasty taste still present in his mouth and the first words out of his mouth were, "Yuck, it tastes like I just drank a can of paint."

Esiila laughed. "You might as well have, the cloth that was stuffed into you mouth was drenched in the paint you must have thrown at Zimri. You're lucky they got rid of the toxins in paint years ago or everything might have been worse, it only tastes bad but won't harm your system."

"I just seem to attract attention from all the wrong people, don't I?" he smiled.

"No, just from Zimri, but like I said, you don't have to worry about him anymore. He is exiled from KO-35 and is not allowed near another ranger. The next time he will even be free to break that restraining order will be fifteen years from now." Esiila smiled, pushing a lock of hair from his face.

"Hey Esiila," a voice called from outside. It was Gaynor, and as he walked in and saw that Andros was awake, he paused for a moment before coming any further. "I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?"

"Umm, let's go with the good news," Esiila said, looking over at Gaynor with a smile. "I think we have had all the bad news for a while."

"I actually fibbed, it's all the same news," Gaynor said sitting down. "You may want to sit down, Esiila."

He waited for her to. "Zimri's not going to prison," he blurted out, and Andros looked like he was going to punch the next thing that was in his reach, while Esiila leaned back in her chair sighing.

"He's not going anywhere for the time being, actually; he committed suicide about an hour ago while in his holding cell. A guard must have slipped him some drugs because he was searched before being thrown into the cell. There is talk though of not allowing his family the right to bury him here, several people are motioning to have him buried in the Eltarian Imperial prison's cemetery, seeing as he had already been sentenced there."

Esiila sighed. "I so wanted to see him get the justice he deserved as well, but I guess we can't win it all. We should just be happy we will never have to worry about him again."

The doctor came in and looked at the wounds. "This one on your chest is doing alright and I think as long as you take it easy you can go back to your room. Just take it easy and don't let Zhane play rough with you, for at least the next two days. I also want you to stay away from the training mats till next week at the earliest. I am thinking that this main wound will heal nicely with little to no scarring, the one on your side I'm afraid to say was done in a way that you will probably always see the scar. We tried to seal it evenly but your skin was cut in a very jagged way," the doctor informed him as Andros sat up in bed.

Gaynor picked up one his uniform shirts that had been left down there for him and handed it to him. "What a way to spend the day you formally turn eleven, Andros."

He shook his head with a laugh as he helped him off the bed. "Where do you want to go, your room or the lounge?"

"Is everyone in the lounge?" Andros asked, looking up at his friend as he stood up.

"They will be after training, but it will be quiet in the lounge for a while and training is outside, so you can watch from the couch or something." Esiila smiled, and Andros just nodded.

LLLL

Sitting on the couch, Andros tried to catch up on his reading, which had suffered in the last week since he had been allowed to train and he had thought his days had been busy before. He watched the others outside as they trained against some of the support soldiers. The soldiers were supposed to be simulating a foot soldier battle that wasn't as predictable as a simulation.

Kin-Won walked in. "So I hear you know about Zimri and his suicide. The guards are trying to figure out who slipped him the drugs now and preparations are being made to ship his body as is to the prison. If it makes you feel any better, his body is being treated as a criminal and he is not going to be preserved as would normally be done."

Andros looked up to Kin-Won. "So he really is gone, we never have to worry about him again?"

"Exactly, never again, now what are you reading?" he said, smiling as he sat down to watch everyone outside. Andros turned the cover over to show Kin-Won.

"Ahh good book, my great-grandfather wrote that one after his years as a ranger. I think it is the best one out there that describes a ranger's life on duty. I have no doubt that once you can get training you will make a fine ranger, I stand by my decision on making you a ranger. If your father were here he would be so proud to see you do what he was unable to do."

He patted Andros' knee as he stood up, "Well, I have more work to get on with but I wanted to see how you were doing."

Andros just smiled as Kin-Won left and he placed his hand over the Z scar and whispered to himself, "Who is the idiot now, Zimri? You killed yourself, do you really think that scar will mean anything to me anymore?"

LLLL

A few hours later the casket that held Zimri's body was loaded onboard a ship set for the Eltarian prison cemetery. The ship would never make it, little did anyone know. Soon after the ship left the system, an unidentified ship fired upon it. The ship was a low class transport vessel with no weapons and was quickly taken over. Everyone on board managed to get out alive, but what no one saw was a cloaked figure walking through the hall to the holding bay where the casket laid. Opening the casket, the figure let out a diabolical laugh. "Yes, perfect, one dead, unpreserved ranger for my collection."

Questions: Who is the cloaked person and what does he want with Zimri's body?


	7. Chapter 7

Part 2

Chapter 7

Kin-Won was working in his office with his head down so he didn't see the five people knocking on his open doorframe. When he looked up, he started to say, "Come in, come…"

He broke into a smile when he saw five grinning faces. "Oh my, you're finally back from your mission. It just hasn't been the same around here without the lot of you to mess the place up."

"Yes, we have a four month break in our orders and we thought we would come back here instead of spending the break with our parents," the person in the blue uniform stated.

Kin-Won snorted. "What was I thinking; you five never have spent a vacation with your parents, you're always here. Now go, I know where you would rather be."

He shook his head as they took off down the hall and muttered to himself, "Some teams graduate and never come back unless they have to and then others, namely this one, just will not leave." Chucking, he went back to his desk.

LLLL

There was one, gangly fifteen year old training in a simulation. When he stopped and looked up, a huge smile spread across his face. "You're back?"

"Yes, for a few months. We will be here through your graduation, I suppose, so the next time if everything goes well, you will be going with us," the girl in yellow informed with a smile.

The girl in pink walked up to him. "Geez, Andros, we wait and wait for you to gain some height on us and while we are away you grow like a bean plant," she said, walking around him.

"I didn't grow that much while you were away, Azalia," Andros said with a smile on his face.

"Then you're naïve, Andros, because if you were to build a bit more muscle on that body you would have enough of the hunk factor to have all the girls on the colony after you," Zhane joked with his friend.

Gaynor, in mock fear, grabbed Esiila by the waist. "You could have any girl, just not Esi, she's mine."

"I don't want Esiila, nor do I want Azalia or any girl right now, besides Esiila and Azalia are like sisters to me that would just be weird." He laughed, "I think there is still plenty of time out there. We are all still young and who knows, maybe the girl for me lies elsewhere," Andros said thoughtfully, as he grabbed a towel and walked with his friends. They had all graduated to full ranger status leaving him the only ranger in training.

"Sure, Andros, and my girl would be your sister," Zhane teased as he leaned against a wall, faking being in love. "Oh Karone, Karone, Karone," he crooned, which made Andros punch him in the shoulder.

"Just because I have a feeling that my sister is alive out there doesn't mean that she is your girl, Zhane. For one, she is four years younger than you and second, there is no way I would let my sister date a goof like you," Andros said, which caused everyone to laugh.

Kasch looked at Gaynor. "I just thought of something. If everything goes alright and the next time we go on a long-term mission is after your graduation, then Gaynor is going have to get back in the habit of not ordering us all around. I think he has liked being in charge too much."

Making their way to the lounge so they could all catch up on what had been going on in their lives, Zhane started teasing Andros again, which he was famous for. "Hey Andros, do the colony a favor and go take a shower; I'm afraid you might be toxic," he said, putting his spin on an old line.

"Oh ha-ha, I'm not that bad, at least I had only been training for little over an hour. Unlike the time I told you that, Zhane, you had been testing all day with only a half hour break for lunch and Esiila's report."

Andros laughed as he looked at his friends. He was glad that they had all graduated the ranger in training program but he couldn't wait till he followed suit.

LLLL

Andros stood at the end of the aisle and took a deep breath he could see the rest of his teammates waiting for him on stage along with Kin-Won. Everyone he could imagine had turned out for his graduation ceremony; he couldn't remember if all these people had been here for the others, but something told him that they all had half as many people at their ceremony. Someone had said to him before the ceremony began that they had come because he was the first person not born to a ranger family that was receiving a morpher.

He thought back to where he had started from and how different he was, just over five and a half years ago. Then his father was alive and his mother was there, but he didn't wish that his parents were alive anymore, because if they were he would still be with them and Zimri would still be alive and most likely the red ranger.

Kin-Won had made him rehearse this for this ceremony for the last few days. He heard his cue and he started walking up the aisle. In the last four months he had filled out his frame and looked every part of the warrior he was about to become. The road to this point had been rocky at best, with first the conflict with Zimri in his first year followed by the next year.

Soon after he turned twelve, he had taken the entrance test which actually made him the red ranger in training. He had nearly failed it because his skills were not up to par with what the governmental leaders considered entrance level fighting skills but after a talk through with Kin-Won and considering his unique position, allowances had been made for him. Soon after that, Gaynor and Esiila graduated together leaving the academy, followed within the year by Kasch.

Even to this day there were people who still opposed the fact he had been given the red ranger morpher but most people, at least the people from his class, accepted him. When he had lost Esiila, he had lost his wise sister as he called her at times, and all her helpful knowledge, which had put a stumbling block up.

He had helped them as well and because of that, they were already being praised as being the most fun loving team. They knew how to relax and it was forming a trend of actually having fun in a battle since rangers had appeared on Earth. As he walked, Andros held his head high, accepting the honor he knew he was receiving. He saw Zhane crack a smile as he stood at attention, which was followed by Azalia, off the side, ever so slightly move her foot to kick him. Andros only saw it because he knew she did it every now and then, and unless you were watching you wouldn't know she had.

Listening to Kin-Won speak as he reached the stage, Andros breathed deeply as he stood in front of his instructor and accepted the praise and the congratulations. After a bit, he was handed his new jacket. He took off the in training jacket which he had worn for the last five and a half years. Pulling the new jacket on, he turned to face the crowd before joining the rest of his team. The team then got praise and well wishes from other high up authorities.

LLLL

A few days later Andros was in his room, with his duffle bag, packing up the things he was going to take with him. The team had gotten their new orders just the day before and now they were leaving for a month long field mission. Zhane was there with him, supposedly helping him try to pack.

"This is so hard, I never imagined leaving would be so hard. This has been my room for close to six years," Andros complained.

"Well, you have it easy. Seeing as Kin-Won is your guardian, you don't have to take everything with you. Until you decide to start a family and get a place of your own this will remain your bedroom," Zhane said with a smile, his eyes glistening.

"No, I told you once, don't go there. I am not going to go party with you, when it is time I will find the right girl without the help of you and your parties," he said, throwing a shirt at Zhane that smelled from training and hadn't made the wash yet.

He watched as the shirt landed right on his friends face. It was quickly thrown to the floor and Zhane looked nauseous after smelling it.

Esiila walked past with her own duffle. "Are you ready to go yet?" she asked.

"I think so, just need to put my pictures away," Andros replied, moving around his room.

"I wasn't exactly referring to you, Andros, take your time and think of everything you are going to need. Zhane, on the other hand, I poked my head in our room and it doesn't even look like you packed an ounce," she scolded. "Andros, I know the mission says one month but we might not be back for several if they see fit. You know very well they will stack missions on top of us."

Andros nodded as he grabbed a few more things from his closet and then dresser while Esiila dragged Zhane out of the room.

An hour later, Andros found himself walking down the stairs to the entry hall for the last time, at least till they finished with their mission, or missions. Setting his bag down near the other bags that belonged to his teammates; he waited for them to come back from doing whatever they had had to do in the last few minutes they had on the base.

Esiila soon appeared, followed by Gaynor and Kasch, coming from the databases; most likely Esiila had been doing some last minute research with Gaynor, or so she said and Kasch had gone down to get them. Zhane walked down the stairs with his own duffle, and Azalia snuck in through the door behind Andros. It was no secret that she was seeing someone from outside the base; however she liked to pretend that no one knew.

Kin-Won walked out of his office, clapping his hands. "You all ready to go?" he asked and they nodded. "Andros, I know I congratulated you earlier formally but I want to take this opportunity to do it informally. I must be honest, when I first took you in five and a half years ago, I didn't totally know what I was going to do with you but as the first few weeks went by, your purpose here became clear. Now I stand here thinking of you as another son and not wanting you to go like the day when my son went out on his first mission."

Andros bowed his head. "Headmaster, I am grateful for all you have done for me. I know there were several times when you wanted to give up on me in the beginning."

Kin-Won held his hand up. "Andros, just Kin-Won, I am no longer your headmaster or teacher, you are a full wage-earning soldier now with all the perks of being a ranger."

He paused and picked up a box. "Before you go, this is something I know your father would want you to have."

Andros looked at the box as he pulled the lid out to reveal. "Star charts, Kin-Won?"

"Not just any star charts, these are the charts that were being used in your sister's case before it was dropped. The ones marked in red are the ones that were searched. However, it has been eight years so it won't hurt to check those areas again," Kin-Won explained before pausing. "Now what am I doing, I'm an old sentimental fool and in the process am holding the lot of you up on your mission, so go, get out of here and good luck."

LLLL

In the transport on the way to the airfield where the Mega ship sat waiting all prepped and ready for its next voyage, Andros took the top off the box and unrolled the first map. Zhane peeked over and looked at it. "Whoa, they actually thought she might have been taken to Earth? We so have to search there, I heard there are some fine girls on Earth."

"Zhane, can you for one minute get your mind out of the dumpster and focused on the impending mission?" Esiila said. pulling him back out of Andros' face.

"I will search for my sister; however, I will search the suspected regions as we pass through them on our missions. I want to find her, but I don't want to jeopardize our mission." Andros sighed as he rolled the map up.

Gaynor nodded. "I agree with that Andros, and Zhane, you know very well that our missions don't go anywhere near Earth, not since Earth got their own ranger team."

"Fine!" Zhane pouted and narrowed his eyes, glaring at Gaynor. Everyone laughed at him so Zhane threw his pillow at whoever it would hit first. "I don't see what is so funny."

Once at the airfield, Andros stepped out of the transport first and gasped as he looked at the Mega ship.

Gaynor clapped his shoulder. "What's wrong Andros? It's just the Mega ship, you have seen her lots of times."

"It's… I don't know, I don't think there is a word to describe how I feel looking at her. Sure, I have seen her several times, but to actually think I will be aboard her this time while space bound is just amazing," he said, glancing to his side where Gaynor stood.

Azalia cocked her head to the side. "Oh come on, guys, what are you staring at? It's just a ship." Then getting a look in her eyes, she threw her duffle over her shoulder. "Last one onboard is a lofa ubh bhruite."

Zhane agreed with her and ran with her leaving Andros, Gaynor, Esiila, and Kasch, or at least for a few seconds before Esiila took off followed by Kasch. Gaynor looked at Andros before taking off in hot pursuit of his girlfriend. Maneuvering the box under his arm, Andros soon followed, not to be out done by his older teammates. He managed to get past Kasch and Gaynor, who was running even with Esiila. Zhane and Azalia were not too far apart and he passed Zhane. Andros was about to catch up with Azalia as her hand hit the door release.

Once inside, Kasch was the last one on board so everyone took turns hitting him over the head and calling him the lofa ubh bhruite. However as Andros did it, he flipped him and got a good laugh from it.

"Let's get to our rooms, so we can get unpacked and the sooner we do that the sooner we can get underway," Gaynor said, accidentally falling into leader mode and he paused looking at Andros. "Sorry, bad habit."

Andros nodded. "It's alright. How about we make a deal that I slowly take over so I can get into the swing of being on board?"

Gaynor nodded once and they patted each other's shoulders in agreement.

Everyone walked down to their quarters and Azalia pointed to the first room on the left. "Your palace awaits you, my prince." She giggled in amusement.

Andros walked up to the door and pressed a button on the wall. The door opened automatically and he gazed into the room. "These weren't Ture's quarters, were they?"

"Nah, I took his old one, and if it is finding little things might have been hidden about his hatred for commoners that you're worried about, I doubt you will. This ship was scrubbed from top to bottom after he was imprisoned. The only difference is that his quarters were right next to the bathrooms but that has its downside as well just, so you know you're not missing anything," Kasch said as Andros walked into the room.

As soon as the door had shut behind him, he turned to the others. "I bet you each twenty dijitals that he gets space sick at least once in the next fifty-six hours."

Esiila shook her head. "You are so bad. I am in, though, only I up it to thirty if within the next twenty-eight hours."

Gaynor shook his head, "I can't believe I am betting over Andros getting sick but, what the heck, forty dijitals if within the next fourteen hours."

Azalia smiled slyly. "I am going to get brave here. This is all starting as soon as take off right?" she asked, and everyone nodded. "Alright, I am going to say in between eight and nine hours from then and sixty dijitals."

Zhane raised his hands. "I'm out. My limit would have been shelling out fifty to each of you if I had lost."

"If you want in on the booty you have to make a bet," Kasch said. "If any of us lose we need to pay out before it going down to the next bet. It stops when it happens; he has to physically throw up, not just queasiness and when it happens all losers have to pay out."

"Alright, just to say it and it won't hurt anything, ten dijitals if it happens anytime after fifty-six hours. Are we going to tell him?"

"Going to tell me what, guys?" Andros replied, stepping out of his quarters.

"Oh, uhh… nothing Andros, we were talking about something else but, uhh… yeah, it is just a joke," Zhane said nervously.

"How come you haven't put your stuff in your rooms, the sooner we do the faster we can get lift off. I believe that is what you said, Gaynor. I will wait on Command." Andros turned around and headed off of the living deck.

Five minutes later, everyone else joined him and took their stations. Andros was enjoying the center chair in the front row of consoles where his station was, him being the red ranger. Azalia stood behind him at navigation. Esiila took the console that primarily controlled ships systems, while Kasch took the weapons system which both were next to his station. His station could control all of them except navigation. Gaynor and Zhane took the auxiliary stations along the sides of command.

Eight hours later, Andros had still not yet lost it, although he had experienced a bit of dizziness. Gaynor was grimacing behind Andros' backl the stupid dampeners would cause him forty dijitals if he didn't lose his lunch before they hit the graviton field Azalia was aiming for. He knew for sure that if she hit it right, and she was always on her mark, when piloting through it, the dampeners would lapse as they had the last time she had taken the ship through.

Andros was thinking that he could feel the ship slow up. "Azalia, is something wrong?"

"No, Andros, just a graviton field through this region but don't worry, I know a shortcut through here that is safe to pass through. My mother showed it to me, it will save some time then rather going around it. The going will be a bit rough, though, so just hang on."

She then changed the course slightly to evade the distortions that could destroy the ship. They were half way through when Andros all of a sudden jumped up, looking a bit green in the face, and ran off the deck. As soon as he was gone, Azalia pumped her fist. "I win, everyone pay up."

Kasch turned around. "Not so fast, Azalia, someone has to go see if he actually puked."

"Oh, he will." She pushed the accelerators slightly, causing the ship to shake when it scraped a small distortion before leaving the field behind them.

"Great going, Azalia that is the last time you will be allowed to go through there. You just blew a cable in the engine room." Esiila turned around.

Azalia checked the readings. "What, that? I can fix that; anyway, I knew what I was doing. Now I am going to check on Andros, I want to see if I won." She left the command deck with Esiila shaking her head.

"Well, I tell you one thing, I refuse to count my coins till I know she won," Kasch said, standing up, following the pink ranger so he could be a second witness.

Translation

Lofa ubh bhruite means rotten boiled egg


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Azalia and Kasch walked down to the closest bathroom and knocked on the door. "Andros are you in there?"

The door opened and Andros stood there looking very pale. "Azalia, shouldn't you be piloting the ship?"

"I was but we passed through the field soon after you ran off of command. We are waiting for your orders on making the small repair that is needed as I bumped an anomaly that was a bit bigger than I judged at first," Azalia explained.

"I had warned Azalia that she should have gone the long way around earlier when she saw the flight plan because you wouldn't have your space legs, but no, she decided to go for it," Kasch crossed his arms.

"You wanted me to lose it, didn't you. You were betting against me, weren't you?" Andros demanded.

"Alright, we did, but only because it is a tradition with rookies to see how long it takes them to gain their space legs. We just upped it to see if you would get ill before you gained yours," Azalia said, putting her hands up.

"Well your plan failed, Azalia; I didn't. I nearly did but I didn't." Andros smiled weakly, and she snapped her fingers.

Just as they were heading back to the bridge a shockwave hit the ship, causing Andros to turn green again. As he turned back towards the bathroom, he ordered, "Get the engine online before another one hits and get us out of here."

Azalia and Kasch looked at each other before going to the engine room to reconnect the cable.

Ten minutes later they were ready to get moving again when Andros came back on deck. "Okay, whoever bet I would barf about now won their little bet."

Gaynor stood up. "That would be me, forty dijitals, everyone."

"Not so fast, we are still within my hour and it was a result of the graviton distortions. So you pay everyone forty dijitals, Gaynor, Esiila you pay everyone thirty, Kasch you pay everyone twenty and Zhane you pay everyone ten, then you all pay me sixty." Azalia smiled as everyone groaned and picked up their money bags from their pockets.

When the trading was done, she took her prize and surprised everyone when she took half and placed it in Andros' hands. "It wasn't fair that we took advantage of you like that."

"Let's agree to not bet on each other again. This was all fun and games but next time it could tear our team apart." They each performed for the first time what would become their secret hand slap with each other promising never to bet on each other as long as they were a team.

LLLL

They then got on with their mission which was to check out the rumors of a new villainess who could possibly cause some trouble for the colony. Their target's rumored name was Astronama; she was an emerging figure under the command of several high ranked war lords. They had a month to get as much data on her and her threat level as they could.

The mission was to last a month and they had supplies for a month; however, they knew that they could be placed on a new mission or even have it extended with a stop over at the closest base in the alliance to restock supplies. They were three weeks into the mission when the call came through that they were to stay out there for about two more weeks and watch Dark Specter's fleets. There was a squadron on the move and they wanted to know where it was headed and how big it was. The course was changed for a refueling base so they could stay out and watch the fleet.

It was while they were sitting in the shadows watching the fleet that Azalia got this scared look on her face. "I just mapped their trajectory, and I have a really bad feeling about this."

Andros turned to look at Azalia. "Where are the ships heading?"

Azalia sucked in her breath. "The ships are headed for KO-35. Dark Specter is making his big move against the colonies."

Andros stood up. "Azalia, set the fastest course back to KO-35. We need to warn everyone and defend the planet."

"Course set, do you want me to slink out of sensor range before reaching maximum acceleration?" Azalia asked.

"Yes, and wake the others. We all need to be on alert from now on." Azalia sent the command for DECA to wake the others.

Within three minutes Zhane, Esiila, Gaynor, and Kasch were on command, still pulling their jackets on and it looked as if Zhane's boots were still unbuckled.

Gaynor leaned over Azalia's shoulder. "What was so urgent, Andros?"

"Azalia figured out the fleet's trajectory and they are at least headed in the direction Of KO-35. We need to get back there as soon as possible and either start evacuation plans or get everyone on the colony armed and ready to fight. Compared to their speed, Azalia, how long will we have to prepare for a fight?"

"We are about two days out from KO-35 at standard acceleration. If we go at maximum classified acceleration for the majority of the way we can be there by morning. With their speed, I would say we would have about two months. They don't seem to be in a rush, the only thing that tells me KO-35 is their target is because ever since we started tracking this fleet they have been on a fixed course."

"Looks like we are going home two weeks early," Zhane said, trying to give some humor to the situation.

"Just wish it was under more favorable circumstances." Andros sighed, "It's not like we are going back for a vacation."

"When this is over, we will be eligible for a month's vacation to relax from the trauma of a full scale assault on the colony," Azalia pointed out. "So if this is a big battle coming, we have something positive to look forward to."

Gaynor looked at Esiila. "I know what I want to do with that time if we get it."

Esiila grinned. "If I am thinking what you are thinking, I think I like your idea."

Zhane got a look that said he was about to tease them but he held off and just looked the other direction with a 'don't tell me look.' "If I say what I think, you'll tell me to get my head out of the dumpster."

"Good. Zhane get your head out of the dumpster because it will be a while before we plan to settle down, so let's just get this threat out of the way before we discuss when we will tie the knot," Esiila said with a smile playing across her lips. She toyed with her engagement band which was ever present on her wrist.

LLLL

Meanwhile in a secret base in an undisclosed location, the cloaked figure was working over some controls. "Finally, my test dummy is ready. One day, you will help me crush Dark Specter."

He laughed at the armored red and black figure on the bed. "Five years it took to get everything functioning."

"Who am I?" The creature sat up.

"Who you are is of no importance right now. Your mission is to destroy the Power Rangers," the cloaked figure said.

"The Power Rangers are a tough force; I will require help from others to take them on. If I have a team, the red ranger is mine to destroy."

"Perfect," the creature began, as he pressed some buttons causing his new warrior to seize up. "Your energy potential is great, I cannot afford Dark Specter to find out about you just yet."

He laid the being back down before pressing some more buttons, enclosing him in a glass tube and walking out of the lab.

LLLL

Arriving back on KO-35, they ordered a meeting with all highly ranked military personnel and governmental leaders. "The fleet we were tracking of Dark Specter's, we believe it to be headed here to KO-35. If their speed remains constant, which it has since they were first reported to be on the move, then we have no more than two months to prepare," Esiila explained during the impromptu meeting.

"I understand you think if they come this way it will pose a big threat to the colony. They have been a low scale threat for the last twenty years, how much of a threat do you think this attack will be, and what do you think the colony-wide response should be?" a senator asked, causing the six of them to suck in their breaths.

"We will of course continue to fight for the colony, but we need to look at mobilizing the evacuation plan in case of the worst. This fleet is huge and it looks like some well known war lords are headed this way. There was a rumor that Astronama is going to be transferred to this fleet," Kasch said.

Azalia stood up. "Sir, we believe given the time and the size of the attack threatened, everyone should be notified and be prepared to run when it happens. They can always come back after the battle."

A general nodded. "All ships on the planet will be prepped to run ASAP and emergency evacuation plans will be made. The UAE is no laughing matter and while we would like not to seem like stupid animals and run in the face of danger, we have to think about what the UAE would do to us if they caught us. We would no longer be a strong united colony, we would be split up and sold as slaves; that just cannot be allowed to happen."

Everyone at the table nodded.

"Thank you Rangers," a senator said, standing up and clasping her hand on each of their shoulders.

LLLL

A month and a half later Azalia was walking between neighborhoods dispersing the emergency evacuation orders. Plans were only half done so when she looked to the sky to see the first veloci-fighters descend out of the sky, she ran back towards the base.

She arrived at the base to find the team already mobilizing, so she quickly fell into rank and began getting ready. The first task was making sure civilians were out of the way until it was clear on whether or not they needed to evacuate. The announcement had gone through when first the leads of the fleet were detected penetrating defenses. They now had to make sure civilians were in safety zones. Once that had been done, they made their way to where the first wave was attacking.

Surveying before attacking, they all shuddered. They had never thought this level of destruction would come to the beautiful colony; buildings were exploding and imploding. Foot soldiers made their way through the streets as a few straggling civilians made their way through the streets in terror.

Azalia turned to Andros. "Andros, this is just the first wave, what are we going to do? More is coming. The civilians are not going to be safe for long."

"We have no choice… call the base… evacuation before… destroys the whole colony…" Andros screamed, but his voice was lost in the roar of the explosions.

Gaynor understood most of it, being the closest and as they were engaged in battle, he authorized the evacuations around the colony. The people were doing something they had never dreamed of doing since being settled on the planet, they were running to save their lives.

As it was needed, they morphed and fought, watching to protect the civilians which now ran through the streets to get to the awaiting ships. All ships and owners had been distributed throughout the colony and were ordered to take on the maximum number of passengers. People had been told to only bring the things on their back but a few had prepared and brought sacks filled with food, those would not be turned away by any pilot. Food would be scarce and any wise pilot would make room for necessities as long it could be shared.

It was not long into the battle that Azalia got surrounded by some foot soldiers. Seeing Kasch and Andros in close proximity to her, she screamed their names, "Kasch, Andros help me."

As she fell she saw both boys dart towards her. She watched as Andros fought through the crowd and Kasch darted through the troops to try and save her. She watched as Kasch, while running to her, took a sword to his stomach.

"No!" she screamed as he fell and his morpher defaulted. "Andros!" she screamed as she was also stabbed repeatedly.

"Save me, Andros!" she begged as she fell to the ground, demorphing with a look of horror. As she clutched her many wounds, her eyes filled with this pleading look that struck Andros to the core.

LLLL 

Andros turned around and watched his friends fall with their morphers defaulting before his eyes. At that moment the part of him that was still a boy aged many years, it would be almost two years before he would smile again just for amusement. Lighting a fire of anger, he fought and fought as hard as he could. With some effort he pushed the troops back into a temporary retreat.

Falling to his knees beside his fallen, friends he respectfully shut their eyes and rearranged their hands, knowing that for the time it was all he could do to pay his respects to them.

He stood up when he heard Gaynor and Esiila calling for him, Kasch and Azalia. Running over to their location, he stopped to see them demorphed and wounded but walking alright. It seemed like their clothes were torn and their arms were pretty cut up, but he knew they would live.

"Andros, where is Azalia?" Gaynor said, hurrying over to Andros as Zhane, who was still morphed, came climbing over some debris.

"Azalia and Kasch…" He paused as he dropped his helmeted head before demorphing. "Azalia and Kasch are…" He paused again; he was having trouble saying it. "Azalia and Kasch are gone, they got cornered I was unable to get to them in time."

"Andros where are they?" Gaynor said, shaking him. "This is no time for jokes, where are they hiding?"

Esiila put her hand on his shoulder. "Gaynor, you know as well as I do that Andros wouldn't lie about something so important."

"NO!" he yelled, "My baby sister is not dead, she can't be," he said through tears.

"Andros, where are their bodies? We need to get them out of the streets so that their bodies can be buried ritually," Esiila said, placing her hand on her red friends shoulder.

Andros nodded and turned around, leading Zhane and Esiila, who was holding onto a weeping Gaynor. Rounding the corner, they saw their fallen comrades however they weren't alone, a cloaked figure was standing over them with its back turned.

Gaynor stood up straight and screamed as the creature threw his sister's body over his shoulder, followed by Kasch as a strong gust of wind blew through spreading flames around the neighborhood the hood fell down.

Seeing the head, Andros fell to his knees and Zhane pulled him to his feet. "That's him, the one that took Karone," he said, pulling out his morpher. He ran only to reach the spot to find him gone again.

Kicking a piece of debris in anger, he turned and walked back to the other three. Esiila let go of Gaynor and hugged Andros as tight as she could. "Now we know your sister's kidnapper is out there, maybe that will help you find him."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Going back to the base they found soldiers coming and going with wounded. Kin-Won saw the four of them return, "Where are Azalia and Kasch?" he asked as the four of them looked down.

Andros stepped forward, "They died in front of me during the fight; their morphers defaulted. I left their bodies for a few moments to regroup with everyone else and when we returned to collect their bodies the same creature that took my sister was there and he disappeared with their bodies."

Kin-Won nodded, "Its up to you four now then, you have to protect the colony, after this battle we will hold ceremony for Kasch and Azalia, just realize that they died doing what they loved to do."

Gaynor cut back a huge gasp, "Kin-Won how can you say that, my sister died out there and you act like it is alright?"

"Gaynor relax, you know what I said is very true. If your sister was to die anywhere else would she feel her life so fulfilled?" Kin-Won asked

Gaynor looked one minute like he was going to punch Kin-Won but the next minute broke down fully in tears ducking his head he said a teary apology and sat with Esiila while a medic tended their wounds.

Two days later half the colony was finished evacuating when Kin-Won announced he was leading some soldiers and civilians underground with a couple hidden ships as an after war effort if everything went wrong. the second wave hadn't hit yet so it was causing panic and worry because they knew it was out there waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

Three days after Kin-Won left it happened the four of them were quick to lay on the attack. When they arrived the setting was pretty much the same. As they arrived they saw buildings being blown to smithereens but the attack wasn't composed of just foot soldiers there were villains mixed in and the attack was so much harder despite the smaller numbers. The last time had just been masses of foot soldiers so many that satellite images showed areas just crawling before something happened and they retreated.

The four of them fought hard for fourteen hours straight, they were exhausted and towards the end of the battle they got split up with Zhane and Andros losing sight of Gaynor and Esiila. All of a sudden they were fighting and the forces pulled back again, "Andros is it me or are they messing with us? Zhane asked looking around it's almost as if it this is a game to Dark Specter."

"I am getting the same feeling, Zhane; let's go find Esiila and Gaynor. So we can regroup." Andros pointed, and they ran off down the street towards the direction they had last seen the other two head. They came around the corner to see monsters still fighting them.

Running to their aid they got there a second too late as a monster raked its claws across Gaynor's chest causing sparks to fly. The cuts were deep Andros could see as he raced to assist but as he arrived Gaynor's morpher defaulted and everything seemed to move in slow motion as Gaynor gasped blood and collapsed to the ground, the pain very evident in his eyes."

"Gaynor!" Esiila collapsed by his side as she took several hits to her back and back of her head. Andros reached for her and moved her just before a hit that could have proven fatal was thrown her way.

Standing up again after sitting a sobbing Esiila on the ground to catch her breath he went after the monster that had killed Gaynor. Zhane was defending their wounded comrade. Neither of them saw the object hit Esiila causing her to collapse and default. Just when they turned around, they were a fair distance from either of them on opposite sides of Gaynor and Esiila. Running when they saw her hit the ground they were stalled when a blast hit and the clocked creature from before was picking them up. Andros fired but as he hit the creature he disappeared with them in his arms.

Andros fell to his knees, "Andros, we need to get out of here and regroup." Zhane called as he pulled his shocked red friend away from the scene.

The base had been locked up so the two of them took shelter in Tykwa's house which Andros had found out the attic overlooked half the city back when he had been hidden there. Sitting at a table Andros had his head on the table, "It's my entire fault that they both died out there. I am the red ranger I should have saved them."

"Andros, there was nothing we could have done, they died fighting like Kasch and Azalia and more importantly they died together. Even if we were able to save Esiila do you think she would have been the same person? When Gaynor died her soul and livelihood died." Zhane said comforting his friend.

A few days later another attack came but Andros looked out the window, "We are not going out there this time Zhane."

"Andros you can't be serious, we can't just abandon our mission."

Andros turned to Zhane, "I am not saying we abandon it, we need to watch their movements; the next time we face them we need a plan and a good one at that." Zhane nodded for a minute before going to another window in the attic to watch their home get destroyed.

Several days later the call came that the whole colony had been evacuated sans military personnel which were still fighting and dying. Finally Zhane turned to Andros, "We need to go out their and fight to win or die trying."

Andros nodded reluctantly, "If even one of us dies we go to space and try to distract them away from the colony. That would be our only chance left at surviving this war and doing any good." Zhane nodded accepting the orders before pulling his morpher from his belt.

They fought hard and harder, this sixth wave was heavier then any of the others. Zhane was fighting one monster as buildings exploded and soldiers' screams penetrated the air.

Zhane had just finished off the last monster in his zone when he saw Andros fighting and about to be hit by a monster. There was no way he was going to let his best friend die the death all their other friends had. He ran and let the beam hit him. He fell to the ground and started to lose consciousness. But he heard for a while Andros fighting around him. Everything fully went black when he felt arms grab him and pick him up, he was still morphed and the person picking him up was Andros.

LLLL 

Andros trudged the streets carrying his unconscious friend before he could be hit worse or taken by the cloaked creature who had taken his sister and their four comrades. Soldiers ran around trying to defend what was left of the colony. As he passed some soldiers stopped for just a second and mourned their fallen team. They would continue to fight until they could escape or join the rebels in the caves to plot revenge so they could claim back their precious colony.

Setting the last of his friends into the cryo chamber he sealed it and turned it on. "Zhane with any hope this machine will save you and enable you to fight along side me once again." As he left he demorphed before going up to command. Standing at the entrance he sucked in his breath he was alone on this ship and as such he would have to pilot as well as command.

Moving to stand where Azalia usually stood he typed in his command code that would allow him to command and pilot from the one station. Lifting the ship off; he found himself ship to ship with to his surprise a retreating mother ship to the fleet. He watched as the ship left with all the smaller ships following. Pushing a loose strand of hair behind his ear he positioned the mega ship in a sensor hole behind the moon where he could see them but they couldn't see him.

He watched for a few days puzzling out why they had not returned when he picked up a message being transmitted from a small satellite in orbit. The satellite was not Kerovian made he could tell just by the frequency it was operation on. It declared Dark Specter as the ruler of the planet and that any attempt to resettle the planet would be taken very badly.

Watching for a few more days he saw the ships that had been hidden for the new rebels army use erupt from the atmosphere. They must have gotten the warning and were now going to train on another planet. He was tempted to follow but he knew Dark Specter would be looking for the Astro Mega ship. He would have to stay away from other Kerovian factions for a while if he wanted his people to have a chance.

Realizing he had never mourned the death of his four friends he began the week long process which he hadn't done for his mother but had been in the process of doing with his mother when she had committed herself. Fingering his ear which he had not done for years he felt the ring which was in his ear. Typically it was a sign of mourning but he had left it there and Kin-Won had let him as a sign of a promise to his father.

**Flashback**

_**Andros sat on a stool in the kitchen of his home. His mother who was dressed in al black stood over him with a needle. She had a sad depressed look on her face. "Andros please honey stop squirming, you are ten years old and definitely old enough to follow with the mourning practices of our people."**_

"_**Mother, why do you have to put that needle into my ear? I don't want it to hurt me." He whined as his mother pinched his earlobe. "Ahhhhhh!" He screamed as the needle made its way through the skin on his ear, "Mother, mother, please stop." He grabbed at his ear only to get pricked by the needle which was still stuck in his ear.**_

_**Seeing the pinprick of blood that started to form on his finger his mother grabbed a damp cloth, "Andros, please darling just let me do this. Now wrap this around your finger please, I promise it will be over in a few moments." She pulled a ring out of a nearby drawer and broke the end of the needle revealing a hollow middle where she pushed the point of the ring into it.**_

_**Andros bit his lip at the jerk of the needle but he didn't scream as she pulled it out of his ear leaving the ring stuck in his ear securing it with the other side, "There that isn't that bad now is it?" she said taking his hand and kissed the finger he had pricked. "It will stay there for a month at which time you can take it out Andros."**_

_**Taking his hand he felt the ring in his ear and he nodded. "Mother, why a month? You said that mourning lasts for a week." **_

"_**The mourning ceremonies last a week but the effects last a month. You will wear this ring for the month and I will dress completely in black for the month." His mother explained with a soft but sad smile.**_

_**End Flashback**_

Going to the material synthatron he synthesized a mourning kit. A small case that when opened held one needle and ring and a disinfecting cloth. Sucking in his breath he took the cloth and cleaned his ear where it was going to go. Taking the needle as he had seen his mother do; he pressed it through his ear biting his lip in the process. When it was through he broke the tip off and stuck the end of the ring in. Gasping as he hitched the ring up and looked in a reflective surface; both were right next to each other and he knew that his new ring would stay in his ear just as long as the one for his father; it would be a promise to them to keep them alive in his heart.

Solemnly he set about his work by starting with taking inventory on what the ship would need for supplies and where he could get it. The mega ship had not been supplied when the civilian ships had, it had been decided that all resources would be used to make sure as many people could survive on one vessel as humanly as possible. There were several times that he looked at the kitchen and the synthatron but he knew that as kicking off the mourning process he must fast for one day.

Thinking back to the other deaths he had experienced. His mother had committed suicide so she didn't get any mourning except for a few moments of silent prayer. Zimri didn't even get that being as he had committed while being a criminal nor did he get burial or the right to have his body preserved. For a moment he considered putting three more rings in his ear however he knew if they were here they would laugh at him for that and demand that if he was going to morn them he do it with one ring.

LLLL

The year passed and he fell into a routine that was laid out for him. Every morning he would wake and train before getting down to chores. He would finish the day off with more training. Once a month he went to various ports to get supplies and refuel the ship, never once did he encounter another Kerovian ship or person. He occasionally got letters left for him at different ports wishing him luck and hoping he would win back the colony.

His second year passed much the same as the year before it however he started leaving the ship to spy on Dark Specter. He wanted to know how he could get his people home, two years was much too long for the whole populace to be in exile. His spying missions would take a turn though when he went to attend the annual banquet.

He walked down the corridor after returning, he immediately sensed something different on the ship. So instead of demorphing he walked along at alert not expecting to see what he saw on command.

On command were two human teenagers about his age poking around in the consoles. When they turned he dropped down into a defensive position only to see two more coming up the corridor from behind him. Glancing at the girl in pink as he looked around nervously, she looked so much like Azalia. If only her skin wasn't so dark and her hair were to be a strawberry blond with plain blond streaks he could have sworn he was looking at Azalia. In one last nervous attempt he bolted running down the corridor away from the four of them.

The girl in yellow was very persistent he found out when they tried fighting him to find his identity she kept latching onto his back. There were ways he couldn't quite explain that reminded him of Esiila, her hair color was about the same and she seemed responsible and had what appeared to be a strong will.

The boy in red reminded him of Gaynor in the fact that he seemed to like being in command over the other three. He tried to negotiate with him while he had no interest in letting the four of them get away with intruding on the ship.

The boy in green he watched for a bit and had sort of a watch out for me I'm the bad boy of the team composure. Not another raw unbroken of the pessimist habit version of Kasch he groaned silently. Four teens on his ship that completed the qualities of his previous team did fate have to be so cruel?


	10. Chapter 10

Part 3

Chapter 10

Andros rolled over in bed with a groan as his alarm went off. He had dreamt of his former team again for the sixth time in the last four months. Why didn't their presence just leave his mind alone? They were dead but it was like they were alive; when he dreamt of them he had the same searching feeling he had when he dreamt of Karone. Sitting up in bed he pulled his jacket on as he fingered his rings which he had not taken out other then to keep his skin from growing over them. Nor had he explained to his new team what they represented.

Sighing as he stood up and brushed his hair before pulling it up for the day. Another day and most likely another battle would happen. That's just how it went lately since he had reluctantly joined forces with the earth team.

Walking to the mess hall he found the four of them talking excitedly about what was going to happen during the day. He hoped they would continue and ignore him while he got his usual hot drink. That was as usual not going to happen seeing as, as soon as Ashley saw him she was draping her arms over his shoulders. He had to admit she was a caring person but she didn't always read his emotions the right way and right now he just wanted to be left alone.

"Good morning Andros," she exclaimed brightly, "today is my birthday and we are all going down to the park to celebrate. I was wondering if you would come with us?"

So that explained her perkier then normal attitude he sighed, "I don't know…" he broke off, "I think I have some stuff to do that needs to be taken care of."

"Oh," she sighed, "alright but if you have a few moments your always welcome." Turning away she started to rejoin the group

He paused for a minute before turning again, "Ashley? What time is your party?" he stumbled over the word party, the few times they had celebrated his birthday it was a celebration in fact party had a different meaning on KO-35 then it did on earth.

"We are going to the park at one and celebrating just among us there before going to my house for a cook-out at about five." She said her face brightening with a huger then normal smile.

"Alright, I will try to be there." He nodded as he grabbed his drink and left the room. He tried not to be so distant with them but he couldn't help it at times especially after dreaming about his team.

They knew about Karone so he wasn't so apprehensive after dreaming about her but he still hadn't told them how close he was to his first team. In fact to this day they had not seen one file on them seeing as he had locked it all out of their security reach.

Walking into the engine room he looked around to see if any of them had followed him down, they hadn't so he opened the secret compartment that held the cryo chamber.

Once inside he laid his hand on the cold surface he began talking as he did each time he visited here, "Hey Zhane, I'm back as I promised. I promised when I took those four on board that I would keep you apprised of how it was all going. I am trying to hide my feelings but the girl who I gave the yellow morpher to, I am starting to fall for her; I don't want to hurt her though. I am worried Zhane and I wish you were awake so you could be goofy and just give me some guidance as to how to handle the situation." He kept his hand there as if he was listening for a few minutes but soon removed his hand and mouthing goodbye to his friend.

Going to his room he pulled out the inventory lists at which he started working on what would be needed the next time he had to go for supplies. As he was working he knew from hearing the others talk while he was getting his drink that he had to get Ashley something. It was then that his eyes fell upon the jewelry box that Esiila had given to him

_**Flashback **_

_**Andros was working on some paperwork in the library. He had just passed the marker and was now fourteen but he found it no excuse to relax. He had two more years till his graduation and knowledge ways he was still behind the others. His training was pretty far along and at the rate he was learning he had no doubt that baring any unforeseeable injuries he would be at the right level for a fifteen year old trainee by the time the marker came around next.**_

"_**Andros?" a voice called out as Esiila entered the library. She was here on a break from her mission as were the rest of the team. When they left next Azalia would leave with them and in a few months time Zhane would as well.**_

"_**Yes Esiila?" he leaned back in his chair and looked at her form approaching him where she laid a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.**_

"_**Andros, as you know you legally just turned fourteen. If your mother were alive she would have presented you with a necklace to one day give the girl you want to marry. As you know it is the first step to the promise of marriage." She paused as she played with her own necklace, "Andros, I want you to have this, I bought it for you because I knew you should have one."**_

_**Glancing at her he opened the small box and nearly dropped it to see the beauty of the necklace, "Esiila, I can't take this, it must have cost you several paychecks as well as some of your monthly allowance from your parents' estate."**_

_**She nodded, "It cost me three paychecks but don't worry about it. You are to be the red ranger, you should give your promised something fancy. I know if this necklace were to come from your mother it would only be half as expensive at most but you are worth it." She kissed his cheek as she stood up, "You will know who to give it to fate will guide you to the girl that you are fated marry just I ask you keep this safe from any harm." **_

_**End Flashback**_

"Fate will guide me to the one I am to marry?" he asked himself as a tear ran down his cheek as he picked the box up, "Anything but that, I know I said I wanted a girl that wasn't from KO-35; but why the one who reminds me of Esiila?" He tried to set it down and think of something else he could give her but no matter what he did he always looked at the box sitting there with its rare and precious amber gem glistening in the dim light of his room. "Fine he nodded, I guess I have been skirting around the edges a bit but what do I say when I give her this. I have never told any of them about dating practices on KO-35. Will I scare her away when I tell her the meaning of this necklace?" He asked himself.

The answer came to him as if whispered in his mind, "You don't need to tell her a thing until she is ready. Just giving her the necklace will be a sign of your love for her and she will feel the love that she already has for you returned with more love attached." Sighing he set the box down and returned to work.

LLLL

He stood by his locker as he watched Ashley take her helmet off. He had just silently declared his love for her and she had been transformed into Astronama. Was she stuck as Astronama or when he saw her face would she be his normal perky Ashley again? The helmet came off and Cassie rejoiced to see her friend back to normal. What shocked him was the first thing she did was fish out from underneath her ranger outfit the necklace looking at it she smiled at him.

Sitting down a few minutes later he began filing the report on that day's battle as he had for every other one prior. He was half through when he door alarm rang. "Come in," he called and the door opened to reveal Ashley dressed in a knee length skirt and a yellow tee shirt.

"Andros?" she called as she entered the room to see him working, "Andros, come on we have the rest of my birthday to attend to. Did you think that just because it is at my home you weren't invited?"

"No I just wanted to file this report as soon as possible and…" he was interrupted as she kissed his forehead

"And your nervous about meeting my parents right?" she asked with a giggle, "Come on silly face they will love you."

"All right what do I need to bring," he stood up as he finished the last sentence in his report."

"Umm well we have a pool so maybe those swim trunks I know that TJ gave you and a towel. Oh and of course some of the civilian clothes we got you." Ashley said walking towards and standing near the door as Andros stood up and went to his closet she slipped out.

A few minutes later Andros emerged dressed in khaki shorts and a red tank top with a white stripe across the chest. In a bag he had a towel and red swim trunks, "I guess I am ready," he shrugged and looked a bit reserved as he followed her to the launch bay.

When they got there he looked around not seeing the others around, "Where are the…?" he asked as she interrupted

"They said they will come down in a bit, they have to get some things for the party." She explained to him as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

LLLL

As they arrived at her house Andros looked around. She lived in a good sized house, it was bigger then the house his parents had had but small compared to the estates held by his team's families. This was the size of house he wanted to own when he settled down to start his family, not too small that his children would all share one room but not so big that the house would house a complete staff and most definitely still be managed by two people.

The door swung open and five people came out onto the porch. "Ashley honey, you finally arrived, we have been waiting all day for you to come home for this party."

"Hey Mom," Ashley smiled and as she came down on the steps they met and hugged. Turning to Andros she smiled, "Andros this is my mom, Kaitlyn, my dad, Lawrence, you have met my brother Jeff and these are my twin sisters Eliana and Daphne."

Lawrence looked at his daughter, "Ashley who I this?"

"Dad this is my…" she looked to Andros, "my new boyfriend." She stated

Lawrence crossed his arms, "Andros, how old are you?"

"Umm, I am eighteen and a half. He stated getting a bad feeling from Ashley's father if she wasn't holding onto him he would probably be halfway back to the ship by now.

Lawrence got bright in the face, "Ashley what have I told you about dating older boys. Why couldn't you have just stayed with Carlos? He was a very nice boy."

"Dad! Please, Andros is my boyfriend and nothing you can do can change that. Carlos and I have been over and done with since the beginning of the school year." Ashley clung tighter to his arm.

"Well, I will let it slide for tonight but you and I will be having a talk about appropriate behavior around my daughter. I will tell you now that if I ever catch you laying a hand on her you will be forbidden to see her again is that clear?" Lawrence blurted out and Andros just nodded.

"Yes sir it is perfectly clear, I want you to know I don't have and will never have any ill wish against your daughter." Andros stated

"Lawrence honey, why don't we let Ashley and Andros go inside so she can introduce him to her grandparents and aunts and uncles." Kaitlyn said pulling her husband aside

As Andros walked next to Ashley and mouthed, "Extended family?" and she just nodded.

Soon after walking through the doors they got bombarded by aunts' and uncles' and her grandparents'. Ashley quickly introduced Andros to everyone as they made their way through the crowd.

On the other side Andros looked at Ashley as she led him to the back porch and the porch swing, "I am sort of glad I never had a family like that growing up." He grinned

"Andros did you ever smile before you met us?" Ashley asked looking into his eyes.

"I used to lot's but after you joined the team I smiled for the first time in two years. I was too caught up to realize I hadn't smiled since the fall of my planet." He explained and seeing the look on her face he guessed her next question would be about his childhood which he had skirted around till now.

"I never really knew my extended family; I came from a family that worked on heavy machinery. I had two uncles who died when I was really young. My dad died when I was ten and my mother followed him to his grave. I have technically been an orphan for eight years although I was saved by the leader of the power ranger organization on KO-35 before I could be given orphan status." He told her his early childhood leaving everything out about the others which he knew he wasn't ready to tell about yet.

She looked at hi and traced her finger along his cheek, "You never told me that you were an orphan. This must be so hard my forcing you along when you've never had this. I am such an idiot." She said blushing slightly

"No really it's alright, I like it. I want to get to know a large family. In fact growing up I was so determined to date a girl from a large family. I think it was so she would have family enough to spare for me." Andros said smiling as he brushed her hair out of her face.

She jumped over and hugged him, "Oh Andros!" she giggled, "Every time we spend any time together I fall more in love with you. you seem so quiet and reserved on the outside but the more I fall in love with you the more I see that inside you have the most playful spirit that only wants to fly."

He gazed down in sadness, "I have my reasons, just trust me that when I am ready I will tell you alright?" he stood up and clutched the railing, "I am still healing inside although you have helped me recover from some of my grief just by being such a good friend."

Ashley looked at him with a smile and was about to say something when Justin popped out the door, "Hey Andros! Ashley your mom wants you to come in so they can begin the party before your father stats the grill." Ashley grinned as she took his hand and led him back inside.


	11. Chapter 11

"Andros, two years?" Zhane asked, as he gasped at his friend-who he had to admit had grown up from still a boyish figure into a man. He was shocked at the difference in his friend.

The light in his room was set to dim and Andros was sitting on his bed as he walked around his room before sitting in a chair.

"Yes, Zhane, two years." Andros nodded his head slightly.

"Well, I am dying to ask, have you found anything out about their abductor? And I was going to say something but thought better of it, when the heck did you give them their morphers? I am not upset with your decision, I'm just curious as to why you gave it to four untrained people. Surely you could have tracked down a civilian ship and found their trained replacements."

"Zhane, it is complicated." He paused. "First, yes, I have found the cloaked creature that kidnapped my sister and our teammates' bodies. His name is Darkonda, but I haven't been able to get anything out of him except for keycards that give us a third Megazord. Second, I haven't been near a colony ship in the last two years. I haven't wanted to attract attention to them and it was Zordon's wish before he was captured that we work together. But Zhane, it is hard sometimes. They all have personalities similar to our first team."

"They do, really? I know I thought I was staring at Azalia's twin when I was looking at Cassie, but what about the others?" Zhane asked, smiling as he leaned forward on the chair he was sitting on.

"Well, Cassie is as you say, and she has a playful yet trustful attitude. TJ likes to be in command, although I think that stems from the fact that he used to be the red ranger for his earth based team. Carlos can be dark and argumentive at times." He paused before continuing, "Ashley, where do I start with her? She is caring, strong, thinks things through."

He listed a few of her attributes that reminded him of Esiila. He went on, catching Zhane up on the past two years and then he mentioned that he hadn't really told them about the past team.

"Andros are you crazy? You should have told them, I know the others would want their successors to know about them."

"I just could never bring myself to tell them. I still partially blame myself for all their deaths and, if you haven't noticed, I am still wearing the mourning ring I put in my ear after you were struck down," Andros said, dropping his head.

"Fine, I am going to tell them, then. And you know what, to start it off I am so going to challenge you to a duel," Zhane said, standing up and grabbed a disk off of the desk.

"Zhane, anything but that, you always beat me and I have no idea how you can stand still for so long when you had to have been the most hyper out of all of us." Andros stood up.

"Oh, come on, Andros, you have had two years of practice and anyway, I am going to have fun making a fool of you up on command if you haven't been practicing." Zhane smiled and headed out the door with Andros, who stopped at his room to get his disk.

Getting to command, he found Zhane checking on some things. "So where are the others right now, anyway?"

"They went to school; you were asleep when they left, for someone who just slept the last two years, you sure slept a long time," Andros teased.

"School?" Zhane's jaw dropped. "They are still in school? And I didn't sleep for the last two years, I was in a cryo induced coma-not the same thing. You are lucky that I woke right up and didn't do as most patients do, go right back to sleep for at least a week."

"Yes, on Earth children go to school from the age of five or six till they are about seventeen or eighteen. Whatever, can we just drop the cryo thing?" He sighed. "Do we really have to do this; they will be back from school in about twenty minutes."

"Perfect, because unless I have gotten worse, we can both last that long with no problem." Zhane grinned and place his disk on his head while Andros did the same. "DECA keep the time and tell us when one of us drops our disk."

Twenty minutes later the two of them were staring at each other perfectly still. Andros knew his back itched in several spots and he had an itch on his nose; he wasn't going to tell Zhane that he hadn't practiced since the others came onboard five months prior. He didn't even hear the others walk on command, he did know after a few minutes that they were staring at him.

Ten minutes later TJ walked over to check that he was still alive. "Hey Andros, you still alive or are you frozen in place?"

He didn't answer even though he was tempted to.

Carlos crossed his arms. "DECA what are they doing and is Andros alright?"

"Andros is fine; Zhane challenged Andros to a match to see who could stand still for the longest. They have been going for thirty-two point seven six minutes. Andros' personal record is fifty-five point nine eight minutes, while Zhane's is fifty-nine point nine-nine-nine minutes."

The four of them sat down and watched for about twenty six minutes. Andros passed his personal record and Zhane just barely passed his by a couple of seconds when his disk fell of his head after finally needing to rock back and forth for a second. Andros went for another few minutes raising his time up to one hour and five minutes.

"There you go. Zhane, for the first time I beat your time," he said as he rocked the disk off of his head.

Zhane leaned against a console. "Yeah, and the only person you haven't beaten time wise at standing at attention is Kasch."

Andros smiled and nodded. "I remember the first time I found him practicing I accused him of being half statue. I was sitting waiting for him to finish for over an hour and I was eleven, I believe, when that happened."

The other rangers watched on in amazement. They were seeing another side to Andros that they had never seen before and it was astonishing. He had always kept his inner thoughts locked up inside of him. This was the first they had heard of his friends aside from Zhane, who they had learned of just the day before. He seemed just a little less troubled standing there bantering with the silver ranger.

"There, I thought I saw a shadow of the old light hearted Andros show his colors. You might smile for them but I know it's nothing compared to your smiles that you used to have when we were back at the training base," Zhane taunted.

"Enough, Zhane, please! Yes, the innocent Andros you used to know is still in here somewhere. But please, the war has been tough on me and besides, I have been having recurring dreams similar to the ones I have of Karone only with the four of them, I don't think they are dead, at least not totally," Andros blurted out, and dropped his head with a tear running down his face.

Zhane did a double take. "You what? What did you see?"

"I don't want to go into it right now." He typed something into the console he was standing near and walked out.

Zhane furrowed his brow. "Is he always this moody?"

Ashley looked after Andros' retreating form. "Sometimes he opens up, but he is usually very reserved."

Zhane sighed and shook his head. "I'll have to work on that, then, I guess. I am going to lie down, tell Andros if he wants to talk he knows where I am."

Cassie frowned. "Are you alright, Zhane? Maybe you should have Alpha run a medical scan on you."

"No, I am fine, I just need to sleep. I was in a coma for two years; I'm surprised I am awake now. Normally cryo coma patients sleep for a week after being released from cryo." Zhane smiled his charming smile and walked off the deck.

LLLLL

Zhane sat in a chair; it had been a week since he had woken up and all of a sudden Andros was having a jealousy streak just because he was forming friendships with the other rangers. Namely Ashley. Why would he be having a problem with him hanging out with Ashley? He was confused because Andros seemed so withdrawn, but yet he was passionate about Ashley.

"Zhane, are you alright?" a small voice announced from behind him, which caused him to look up and see Alpha standing there.

"Yeah, Alpha, I am fine, just a bit confused. Andros has changed in the last few years and I don't know how to change him back. I have tried knuckling in the old ways from during training but he just shrugs them off. We used to be best friends and could tell each other anything." Zhane sighed as he swiveled in his chair.

Alpha continued, "He was more reserved than this when we first met up with him, even to the point that he didn't want any of us on board. About a month and a half ago he began warming up to them even more by leaps and bounds. Maybe the answer doesn't lie in putting him back in his place but instead letting him spread his wings a bit."

"Alpha, what do you mean?" Zhane looked at the little robot with great interest.

"He started to grow more social after he gave Ashley a necklace for her birthday," Alpha explained.

"I am such an idiot; I should be out there fighting with them instead of barred to the ship." Zhane stood up and stormed off of command.

"That's the spirit, Zhane." Alpha waved as he ran.

LLLL

Zhane rode into the warehouse and immediately saw Andros captured with the others. Andros gave him his orders and he followed them as soon as he jammed the field that had captured them. Finding the lab was a bit more difficult but he did it, and he could have sworn he saw something in the corner as he destroyed the crock-a-tocks, but when he turned back around it was gone and so was Darkonda.

Taking a few seconds, he walked over to the corner and took a look around. What he had seen were clear-fronted boxes about as high as tall as a man. When he had glanced over here, he could have sworn that he had seen helmeted beings locked inside and they had had colors on their helmets. Shaking his head, he turned to walk away when on the ground something pink caught his attention.

Picking it up, he rubbed his hand over it and recognized it as a headband. 'Azalia had worn a headband just like it the day she had…' He clenched his fist around the headband in anger, realizing that the monster must have chopped her to bits as a science experiment. He stuffed in down his neck piece, adamant that Andros not see it at least not at that time.

LLLL

Zhane leaned against a bulkhead and blew out a deep breath. He had just had a little chat with Alpha about his powers and now he had to make it up to his best friend. He walked on to command to see his friend working, again, was that all he did?

"Andros, I have something to say," he stated confidently as his friend looked up from his excessive work. "Andros, I am sorry, I know you keep telling me things have changed but I honestly had no idea how much you liked Ashley. If I had known about that, you know what, I wouldn't have gotten so close to her."

"What, you know what?" Andros looked up again with a sigh.

"You know what I mean; you gave her your promise necklace didn't you?" Zhane demanded

"Yes, I gave it to her, so what?" Andros shrugged.

"Andros?" Zhane threw a questioning look at his friend.

"If Ashley likes you then you can have her, I gave her the necklace but I am not chaining her down. She doesn't even know the full meaning of the necklace. I was just extremely jealous when I saw her with you like you two were; things had been going well before I started drifting again." Andros shrugged as he put his head back down to do more work.

"I don't want Ashley, in fact all the time she was with me she was trying to learn more about you. She has a lot of questions about your past. Maybe it is time for a full history lesson, if you want, I can help you with it. However I know you were always a better book study than I was." Zhane grinned as Ashley peeked around the corner.

"Andros, I was wondering something… however, you might find it boring, seeing as you do come from space," she started, which made Zhane smile at his friend.

He looked on for a minute before leaving them alone and as he walked, he thought, 'yes this is definitely what he needs, she is good for him.'

He walked to an observation port and leaning against the window, he pulled out the headband and looked it over. He nearly dropped it when he saw a black mark on it. There was no doubt this was Azalia's, he remembered a few days before the battles goofing off with her with a marker.

_**Flashback**_

_**Zhane sat there writing signs to help with evacuation orders and for directing civilians if and when they had to evacuate so the trip getting onto ships would hopefully go smoothly.**_

_**Azalia walked in and placed a hand over his eyes. In retaliation, he raised his hand blindly over his head and felt for her face. He wanted to see if he could draw a mustache on her face but when the marker went down and started to draw he realized it wasn't her face when she screamed.**_

"_**Zhane! Watch out, I just washed my hair. Don't get that marker in my hair," she protested, yanking the marker out of his hand. "You're going to get it now, silver boy." **_

_**She scribbled down his face with a laugh which prompted him to run into the nearest bathroom. When he returned she had her headband off and she was trying to rub the marker out. **_

"_**This is not coming out! Zhane, were you using permanent?"**_

"_**Nope, but it wasn't approved to wash out of fabric." He shrugged and started wiping it off his face.**_

_**She threw the headband at him after seeing it was coming easily off of his face. He caught the band and looked at his handiwork, which was distorted. **_

"_**Azalia, I think this looks cool, don't wash it out."**_

"_**What?" she said, crawling over next to him and looked at her headband.**_

"_**It looks like a star and headband on the ends where you smudged it while trying to clean it. I say leave it and we can always remember what good friends we were in these days as rangers," he said, as she smiled.**_

_**End flashback**_

LLLL

Zhane had changed and was walking back onto command. He had to admit his leaving had been one of the hardest decisions, but he owed it to Kin-Won to help him and now as a result he had his own Zord. Andros was still morphed in standby mode and was looking at the screen. "Andros we will get her back," he said confidently.

"I was just thinking, Zhane," Andros sighed. "It seems fitting that you went out with my sister."

"Oh, and why is that?" he questioned laying a hand on his friends shoulder.

"Does, and I quote, "Oh Karone, Karone, Karone" ring any bells?"

"I forgot all about kidding with you years ago about that. I guess it is fitting even though I was joking, you got your girl from another planet and mine is as I said your sister." Zhane laughed before clapping Andros on the shoulder. "I need to go work on my silver rider and Ashley is looking for you."

Andros nodded and turned the screen off before following his friend out the door.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Astronema, may I present you with a gift?" Darkonda said as he walked into the throne room. "I am hoping this will ease the stress between the two of us."

Astronema turned around and glared at Darkonda. "What have I told you about returning here, Darkonda?"

"Please, I only want you to have a humble gift. Something I have been working on for eight years now." Darkonda whispered over his shoulder, "Actually I am glad to be rid of them, they are nothing but problems when activated, too headstrong."

Darkonda snapped his fingers and five containment boxes were dragged into the room. "May I present you with what I call the Psycho Rangers, they are everything the rangers are—only better."

Astronema grinned as she looked on at the box. "Quantrons!"

Darkonda took one last look at the box before leaving as quickly as he could.

For a moment after the Quantrons had opened the boxes, nothing happened. Seconds later, the five armored creatures stepped through the open sides of their boxes and the red one looked around.

"Where are we? Where is that insolent fool who has the nerve to call us our creator?"

"You are mine now." Astronema grinned evilly, looking at the five of them. "And I want you to destroy the Power Rangers."

The red Psycho shrugged. "We are the Psychos and we will do as we please."

"You will listen to me or face a or be disassembled," Astronema ordered. To prove her point, she raised her staff and electrocuted the five of them just for good measure. "Now, go and destroy."

Nodding, the five ran out. As they arrived on earth the, pink Psycho stopped. "Do we really have to destroy the rangers?"

The red Psycho grabbed her and shook her. "We are evil; that is what we do."

LLLLL

"The Psychos are going to get it." TJ slammed his fist onto a console. They were all watching the recording from their battle with the Psychos.

"What I don't get is, why did they run when they grabbed their heads?" Andros wondered, puzzled. "They had us."

"Maybe…" Cassie pondered that for a moment, continuing with a shrug. "But they seem to have a grudge against us for some reason, especially the red Psycho with you, Andros."

"Maybe what, Cassie?" Zhane asked, looking at her.

"It was just a thought, but… maybe you know the psychos from somewhere before? Or maybe they fought another team and lost, so now they are getting revenge on them through us?" Cassie shrugged, and everyone but Andros and Zhane nodded.

Andros shook his head slightly. "No, there are no records of any other ranger team encountering anything vaguely similar to the Psychos. And Kerovian rangers leave meticulous notes, every ranger is very precise when writing reports."

"I agree with Andros on that, you should check the library sometime, although I doubt you would understand many of them, there are shelves upon shelves of books about different attacks on rangers," Zhane added. "Just ask Andros how many of them were required reading for him."

Carlos stood up and looked at Zhane. "What you are saying then, is that we aren't smart enough to read Kerovian books?" he asked, in slight anger.

Andros sighed. "Carlos, he is not saying that at all. You are quite welcome to go read. Here." Andros reached under a console where there he'd stowed away a book the last time he'd had late night watch.

Carlos opened it before shutting it again. "What the heck is this gibberish? I thought Kerovians spoke English, because I have never heard you two speak anything else when we are around."

Zhane sighed. Taking the book from Carlos, he opened it, "When the two of us are around you, sure, we speak English. All Kerovians speak English but for common everyday matters and reading purposes, we speak and read Kerovian. There are some books printed in English but not many."

He scanned the first page. "Andros, tell me you seriously did not waste your time reading this garbage, right?"

Andros nodded before taking the book back. "I thought it would help me understand Ture a bit better and what went through his mind before he was imprisoned."

"Yes, but he wrote this book while still in prison. In fact, he still has twelve years left on his sentence. If this book is any evidence, he still has a guilty mind and has no intention to changing it," Zhane said, putting the book down.

Everyone left command but Zhane stayed for just a moment and moved to stand near the view screen. 'I saw the Psychos before just briefly. They are what must have been in the boxes I saw before Darkonda took off with them.'

He then reached into a pocket and pulled out the pink headband. 'The psychos were in that lab and so was your headband. Azalia, are you trying to tell me something?' he thought, before stuffing it back away. 'No, you are dead.' He shook it off his mind and put the band back in his pocket.

LLLL

The next few days were all the same, it seemed. Every time they went to Earth they had to guard themselves against possible attack.

It was almost two weeks before they made any ground in destroying Psycho Pink. Soon after that, Zhane had the shake up of his life when he posed as Psycho Silver.

"Andros, I don't know what it was down there. It seemed… I don't know, almost right that I was fighting on the Psycho's side for a few minutes," Zhane said, walking back and forth in his quarters where they were once again talking in his room. Funny… back at the training base all of these conversations took place in Andros' room.

"How do you mean it felt right to be fighting with them? What did you feel?" Andros asked, leaning forward over the chair where he was sitting.

"Oh, just that same vibe we have been feeling since they started to attack." He paused, "The vibe that we know them from somewhere and the red Psycho gave me nothing but bad vibes. He was angry at everyone, even his own team it seemed."

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying that the others seemed to be reaching out more to the others and not you or I, and even they had some resentment towards the red psycho. More than anything, the blue Psycho seemed almost glad that I was on their side and a Psycho." Zhane paced before sitting down on his bed.

"Strange. It is only going to get in the way of us destroying them, I feel. Did you feel grief when we destroyed the pink one the other day and the blue one earlier?" Andros asked.

"Are you kidding, I felt like a part of my soul was ripped out when we destroyed the pink Psycho," Zhane whispered, pulling out the pink band this time from under his pillow. "I have been holding this back, Andros, I found it that day in Darkonda's lab."

"Is that what I think it is, Zhane?" Andros held his hand out to accept the headband.

"Yes, it is the very same headband Azalia was wearing on the day she… on the day she was killed," Zhane stuttered out.

Andros handed it back to Zhane. "You were in love with her, weren't you, Zhane?"

"No, I never was. We were just really close friends; she was seeing someone outside the base. I was really in love with your sister the short time we got together. I don't know, when I was with Astronema I felt something that I never felt for any of the girls I flirted with or even. It was close to my love I had for Azalia, except for with her it was a deep down "I love you as a sister" and for your sister it was the real true deal."

He paused and looked at Andros. "Well, if I'm not crazy, then what we predicted three years ago is coming true. You have fallen for a girl that isn't from the colony and I am falling for your sister, who I can't have because she is our enemy."

Andros nodded, then sighed at the thought of his sister. "I will get her back somehow, somehow she will be back with us and then I will see about you dating her."

"Really?" Zhane smiled. "I thought you were hard against me getting with your sister."

"Well, I can't stop fate, now can I?" Andros stood up.

"Hey, Andros, I have one question." Zhane stopped his friend from leaving the room.

Andros turned and stared. "What?"

"I was wondering… now this is only a random thought, so don't go all taghdach on me."

"Why would I go taghdach on you? I can think of a few things but nothing pertinent to our discussion." Andros sighed

"Well you said something years ago, about what Zimri said about your scar that he gave you. Well, I started to think about it after seeing some of Psycho Red's moves and the way he's aggressive only towards you while the other psychos will fight any of us he seems only to be out for you. His moves and behavior, they remind me of Zimri. The question I want to ask, Andros, is—"

He paused and sighed. "Does your scar hurt, or do you remember Zimri in any form when you fight Psycho Red?"

Andros growled, "No. I haven't even thought of the scar, and how could Psycho Red be Zimri? Zimri killed himself almost eight years ago and then to top it off, the ship that was carrying his body was blown up."

"It was just a thought, I never said it was a good one," Zhane defended himself. "Although, you have to admit, I could be at least barking up the right tree. Maybe Darkonda studied Zimri's moves and programmed the red Psycho with all the hatred and moves that made Zimri Zimri."

Zhane shrugged. "I'll bí ciúnas now," he said after he saw the stare Andros gave him.

"I don't even want to think about it, Zhane, so don't even go there ever again," he reprimanded his friend. "I nearly lost my life twice to Zimri. To think he might be Psycho Red in some shape or form is enough to fionnachrith a chur ar dhuine, much less mine."

"Alright, good point. I will drop it and try never to bring it up again." Zhane nodded before shivering slightly.

Andros left the room and proceeded to go into the simu-deck where he brought up a monster and started to work off his frustration. "There is no way that Zimri and Psycho Red are the same person."

He screamed his aggression out as he worked on destroying the monster. But as he did it, he was ever aware of the small voice in the back of his head saying otherwise and agreeing with Zhane.

When he was done he floated a towel over to him and sighed. He had managed to block the thought of Psycho Red being the same person from the nightmare he had suffered for the first six months after going to live at the ranger academy.

Walking onto command, he found the other rangers there. Ashley jumped up and gave him a hug. "Hey, Andros, why are you so blue?" she asked with a smile.

"I am not blue," he said, shaking his head and separating himself from her. He didn't really feel like cuddling with his girlfriend right now.

"No, silly, I didn't mean the color. I meant, why are you upset?" Ashley demanded.

She was persistent, he knew that, but he could try to distance himself from her. Just because he had given her his promise necklace didn't mean he had to be with her every second they could, did it? They most likely had their whole life together.

"Oh, just some things that you don't need to worry about. I will work them out, it has to do with the Psychos and where they possibly came from. Zhane claims their moves seem familiar, and I am just now seeing that he is right."

TJ stood up. "Andros if that is so, would you know a way to defeat the remaining Psychos?"

"I think so, but I am not sure. Let's worry about how to defeat them when we face them again, though, because until then I won't know if Zhane is totally right." Andros picked up some data disks and left command.

taghdach = volatile

bí ciúnas = be quiet

fionnachrith a chur ar dhuine = to make somebody's flesh creep


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Saturday everything was quiet as it had had been since the destruction of Psycho Blue. Everyone was worried because the last time they had lain in wait, they had had a killer plan at the next battle; well, not literally a killer plan.

Ashley and Cassie had both gone out shopping; however, they had not gone together. Ashley returned to the Megaship first, running onto the deck in a hurry with the news that the Psychos had taken human form. Andros started looking a little pale.

They decided Zhane would be the decoy to go down to help Cassie out of her predicament because the Psychos hadn't memorized his voice as well as they had the rest of them. They set it up that he was to dress as a clown, which Andros got a laugh out of, because he was a clown just without all the makeup he was wearing at that moment.

When Zhane saw them, he pretty much gasped as he ran away to lure them away from Cassie. Once he was on his bike and riding away, he contacted Andros. 

"Andros, you are not going to believe me, but Psycho Red is Zimri, or someone who looks just like him. Last I checked, Zimri didn't have an identical twin."

He heard Andros moan on the other end slightly and continued, "Also, to go with it Psychos Yellow and Black respectively are or were Esiila and Kasch, there was something in their eyes that says they aren't themselves anymore."

"Who are you trying to fool, Zhane, they are the Psychos. They have been trying to kill us, of course, they aren't the same. But that means we destroyed Gaynor and…" His voice dropped off.

"_We destroyed Azalia, I know it sounds horrible but we will have to come to terms with it somehow. The question is how do we destroy them knowing that in the process we will be destroying our friends." _

The others looked at Andros while he quickly explained, "The Psychos are Zhane's and my former team. We thought they had died but evidently Darkonda has been experimenting on dead bodies."

"How do you know that they were really dead, Andros?" Ashley asked. "I mean, they could have just been unconscious. You said before that they died in a battle, but did you really have time to check their vitals?"

Andros sighed. "Look, we can discuss this more later? We need to now keep them from doing more damage but we need to hold from destroying them, at least until we know if there is any chance to rescue them."

Carlos looked ready to protest but he nodded anyway and followed as they morphed and headed towards the site where Zhane was leading the Psychos to.

The battled and the Psychos changed form, along with growing. When they trapped the Mega Voyager in the suction of a vortex Andros refused to leave his place. He was hoping he could get through to his former team but Carlos knocked him unconscious, pulling him out with them.

Watching the Mega Voyager disappear, Andros fell to his knees. "No, not again!" he screamed.

LLLLL

Sitting in his chair on command, Andros looked down while fingering his ring that stood for their death and his mourning of them. Zhane stood at a console and brought up information in closed files on each of their team.

TJ looked at Andros. "Andros, what was that whole thing about dead bodies and why do you seriously believe they were dead in the first place?"

Andros looked at Zhane and Zhane brought up a team picture that had been taken soon after his graduation. "I saw them die out there on the battlefield. I watched Azalia and Kasch get stabbed, I watched as Gaynor got clawed to death by a monster. I heard Esiila cry when she was hit by something while I was trying to protect her. I saw each one of them forcefully demorph and that only happens when a ranger dies in battle."

Carlos looked at the team and noticed Kin-Won, who had been dragged into their photo. "What is Kin-Won doing in your photo? Is he more than an old acquaintance?"

"You can say that," Zhane replied. "He was our teacher, sorry we never told you before. He is also my great uncle, but that is a long story for another time."

Cassie looked at the group. "You said all three of the Psychos were your old teammates, yet I don't see anyone in that photo that looks like Psycho Red."

Andros sucked in a breath before nodding to Zhane and Zhane brought up a photo that had Zimri in it, a photo that had been taken just after Andros had come to the base. The photo had been taken with each of the rangers' assistants, all of which decided on their own that they would prefer to be regular soldiers.

The scene was set up with Zhane and Azalia on the ends. Kasch and Gaynor stood next to them with Gaynor next to Azalia. In the middle, or sort of, was Esiila next to Zimri. Standing in front of their coordinating ranger in training was Andros and the rest of the assistants.

TJ looked at the screen. "Andros, how come you are wearing a blue jumpsuit in that photo and not the same as your team?" He paused and looked again. "Is that Psycho Red standing in your place as red ranger?"

"None of them were rangers yet, they were rangers in training and I was the red ranger in training's assistant," Andros said with a strained expression on his face.

Zhane picked up, "His name was Zimri and I can guarantee that if you were in a room with him, you would rather be in a room with Astronema. He doesn't act all that different being a Psycho than he did when he was alive.

"Well, of course. Andros is the red ranger isn't he? There are only two ways to for a ranger child to lose their morpher—death or expulsion from the training academy. Both happened to Zimri," Zhane said, seeing that Andros didn't want to talk about Zimri. He could understand why; Andros' life had been a nightmare for six months while 'training' under him.

"So Zimri was expelled and then died?" Carlos said, looking at the picture.

"Umm, no, not exactly. He was expelled and Andros got his position as heir to the morpher as well as the morpher, unofficially; seeing as a double trial was held. Let's just say like father like son. You remember the book from a few weeks ago that you called gibberish, Carlos?"

Carlos nodded.

"Well, it was written by Zimri's father while he was in jail. Actually, he is still there, seeing as it has only been eight years, he still has twelve more to go."

Ashley hugged Andros, having moved closer to him. "So like father like son?"

"They were both horrible and his father hurt Andros' life just as much as Zimri hurt him," Zhane replied solemnly.

Andros stood up and shot a warning glance at Zhane before walking off the deck followed by Ashley, who chased after him. As they left, they heard Carlos ask more about Zimri.

"You said this Zimri died, how did he die?"

Zhane responded, "He died by suicide, I would be crossing the line to talk more about it. I trust Andros and I know that he just doesn't want to go into all that right now, but I will say that he hurt Andros once more before he killed himself."

Ashley caught up with Andros near an observation port. "Andros, will you tell me what is bothering you? You have opened up to me before, and if you want there to be anything between us, we need to trust each other. I know I want to trust you, Andros, but it is hard if you are so reserved. Every time I think you have made a step forward, something happens to force you back down the path you have just come up. Talk to me," she pleaded, as she grabbed his hand with tears in her eyes.

Andros breathed out a sigh as he looked away for a moment before turning to Ashley and leading her to a bench. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her big brown eyes. "Ashley, it is complicated but Zimri is an evil in my life I had hoped to forget. He was all Zhane was saying he is. His father is the reason Karone is Astronema now, and the reason my father is dead along with my mother."

Ashley gasped. "Andros, what did Zimri do to you that you hate him so much?"

"First, I need to say as much as I hate what the two of them did to my life, I wouldn't take any of it back. If Karone was still with our family, KO-35 might never have needed to be evacuated even though she didn't have a part in the final battles. If my father was still alive, my mother would be as well and that would mean I would never have gone to the ranger academy. If Zimri had never beaten me, he might be the red ranger right now and you and I would never have met."

He looked at her deeply before glancing back. "While I hate what he did to me and how he treated me, I have accepted fate. He still scares me because of the last thing he did before his death. I always thought the scar he left after his last attack on me would mean nothing to me but I am seeing now that I was wrong. I am scared of him deep down and it is because I am afraid of what he could do to me if he was fully aware of who he is. I don't believe any of them know who they really are, if they did I know Esiila would turn against her cousin. She loved him, but knew his bad intentions had to be stopped and was even the first for me becoming the red ranger."

"Andros, are you avoiding the subject of Zimri for some reason?" Ashley demanded as she looked at him.

"No, I am trying to get to it, it is just it has been two and a half years since I talked about any of this and well, I don't know." He paused, before breaking down. "He stabbed me, Ashley, before he killed himself. He stabbed me and cut into my side the letter Z. I forgot about it for the longest time, but now that I know he is back it bothers me."

"Andros, can I see?" Ashley asked tentatively, watching for signs that she had pried to far but Andros showed none. He surprised her by rolling up his shirt and showing her. She traced the scar with her finger slowly.

"Do you have the scar where he actually stabbed you?"

"No, I don't have that. The doctors on KO-35 have a technique that allows most wounds to heal without scaring. This one was just too jagged for them to fix properly," Andros explained, as he put his shirt back down and stood up.

Ashley guessed at the rest of his story. "So Zimri stabbed you, then realizing what he had done he took his own life to avoid facing more severe consequences? Sounds to me like he had a bit of remorse."

"It was sort of how you guessed, except he was already in a holding cell and a guard gave him the drugs. The guard was loyal to the blood born rangers and was soon found out. He gave Zimri the drugs to end his life rather than have him face years in a jail cell and then exile from his one true home. The guard took his own life and it was discovered that he wore the mark of Dark Specter, which supports the case that Ture made a deal with Dark Specter. The colony experienced no major attack while his team was in charge, however that amhras was left unfounded till the colony was attacked in the fall." Andros explained clarifying Ashley's guess

Ashley stared at him. "Huh, amhras?" she asked, not recognizing the word.

"Oh, sorry, I was carried away talking to you. I forgot to say the English word, amhras is suspicion."

"I like it, would you speak to me more in Kerovian? I would love to learn it. It sounds so beautiful."

"That was only one word, Ashley. It can be difficult to learn especially where there are many different dialects."

"Well, then teach me one, which one is most common?" Ashley prodded with a smile on her face.

"None of them are more common, everyone in a region can speak up to three or four different ones and will switch frequently back in forth. Heck, for that matter when I was going to a normal school, I had a couple of classmates that spoke in one language most of the time but read in another," Andros said, protesting a bit.

Ashley, however, was persistent, "Well, then, just choose one to teach me. I would love to speak with you in your own language."

"You are speaking with me in my own language. English is just as much a part of Kerovian society and every Kerovian learns it in school, it just isn't spoken as much as everything else," Andros protested before sighing and saying with a nod. "Ceart, I will teach you, but not right now."

"Ceart? That means ok?" Ashley asked curiously, repeating it over until she got it sounding like he had pronounced it.

He nodded and smiled. "I will teach you later after we find the Mega Voyager and figure how to rescue our friends."

Ashley nodded and latched on to his arm with a smile and leaned her head on his shoulder. "We need to spend more time alone together, I feel like you're a completely different person when alone."

"Let's go see if we can find the Psychos, for the first time I actually want to face them. I think if I can remind them of the right thing, I can bring them back to me." Andros sighed.

"Andros, if you do get them back what will happen to us?" Ashley asked, looking a little sad.

"Ashley, I love you, nothing is going to come between us," Andros reassured her.

"No, not us as a couple, us as a team!" Ashley demanded .

"I am not sure Ashley, I guess it would have to be up to them, seeing as they are the rightful heirs to the morphers. Don't worry about it yet. I know Esiila would be proud that her morpher could be given to someone so brave, you really are a lot like her. You can pull me out of my in umar na haimléise, my depths of despair," he told her, saying a phase in both English and Kerovian. "Ashley, please do this for me and pretend like I never told you that, and certainly don't tell the others anything of what I just told you. You are the yellow ranger now, until someone decides otherwise and that decision is not mine to make."

Ashley nodded and walked ahead of Andros, after drying her eyes which had started to brim with tears.

LLLLL

"How could you just let them get destroyed?" Andros screamed at everyone. "Zhane, how could you let them? Do you not care that our first team, the team we grew up with is now dead? We had a chance to save Esiila and Kasch."

"Andros, calm down, I know you wanted to save them but you have to face the facts that there wasn't anything left of them. They were completely evil. You saw, you tried to reason with them out there but did it work? No, it didn't have any effect." Zhane paused. "Andros, whatever happened to them, they were held so tightly that the only way to cut the evil strings was to end their pain once and for all."

Andros stormed out of the room. Ashley followed as TJ stood. "Ashley, maybe you should give him some space. He needs it right now."

But Ashley didn't hear him as she followed Andros out the door. She followed him to his room, where he sat with on his bed looking at his team picture.

"Andros, don't push me away," she said, as she stepped into the room and sat down next to him.

Andros nodded and let her wrap her arms around him. "Why, Ashley? I lose everyone I get close to except Zhane, he has more lives then a cat. I just lost my friends for the second time."

"Andros, it is alright. You can say now that you know they are safe and that no one can do anymore evil to them," Ashley reminded him softly as she hugged him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Zhane was in the control chamber of the secret city retrieving the people who had been turned into data cards. "Andros, I found a way to convert the people back to their human form."

Andros responded outside from where he was fighting with the Psycho Rangers, who had brought themselves back to life with that very same machine only minutes earlier. "That's great, Zhane. Now we only have to worry about the Psychos. I still wish we didn't have to destroy them."

"Maybe not, just get them to the control room. We can put them into data cards, and then one day maybe there will be a way that we can get the people we know and love back from inside the monsters that are the Psychos," Zhane responded, and he rematerialized the last bunch of people.

Andros looked at his team. "You hear that, guys?"

"Yeah, Andros, although do you really want to play follow the leader with a bunch of psychos?" Carlos quipped.

Andros didn't answer, he just started running away before he turned and yelled at the psychos, "Come catch us if you can."

The other rangers just stared at each other before running off after Andros, trying to stay ahead of the Psychos.

When the reached the control room, the laser was moving around like crazy and they heard Zhane yell to get them in the center. After fighting for a bit they finally managed to get the Psychos into the center of the room, and watched as they got dematerialized.

As one last act of vengeance, Psycho Red lashed out and tried electrifying Andros. The others jumped in and managed to stop Psycho Red just before he was completely digitalized.

As soon as the laser shut off, finishing its job, the room started to shake. The rangers ran to Zhane's side in the adjacent room. "What's happening, Zhane?"

"I'm not sure, but I think the Psychos overloaded the computer. This place is going to blow."

Just then, the laser started turning on and off and the shaking stopped monetarily. What the rangers saw astounded them. Laying on the floor were five figures, human figures. They looked to be alive, though unconscious and just barely, all five of them were beaten up.

Andros gasped and rant to them, falling beside them to check each one for a pulse. The building began to shake again and things were starting to fall; the building was crumbling with them inside.

"Andros, we need to get out of here and now." Ashley tugged on Andros' arm.

Zhane came running in. "Look, the machine did something to them. I have the data cards with what looks like the Psycho technology. It looks like the machine split them."

Andros shrugged, Ashley off and proceeded to pick up Gaynor. He threw his unconscious friend over his shoulder, just as he had carried Zhane two years prior.

All the rangers went and followed suit, picking up someone from the floor. Ashley had some difficulty managing Esiila, so she and Cassie worked together. Zhane was the last out, and he reluctantly grabbed Zimri's body but in the process lost the Psycho cards.

When the rangers got to the beach, they set the people down and Andros looked around. "Where is Zhane?"

"He was trying to grab Zimri," Carlos said. He had taken Kasch, and had been last out the door besides Zhane.

Andros panicked and walked around the beach calling out for Zhane.

Zhane popped out from behind a rock dragging Zimri behind him. "I'm right here, don't worry. I haven't gone and died on you."

Andros looked at Zhane with a 'that's not funny and you know it' look.

Zhane held his hands up. "Well, I had to get Zimri. He's a lot heavier than he looks, and always has been. Unfortunately, in the explosion I lost the data cards."

Andros started to get angry. "You chose Zimri over the data cards! If someone was to recover those, who knows what they would be able to do with the information on them. Zimri isn't worth as much as those cards, personally I would rather see him die."

Ashley moved over to Andros. "Andros, we don't even know if the cards survived the explosion, and even though Zimri might be your worst nightmare, right now he is a helpless, unconscious, living, breathing human being. He deserves better than just being left for dead in an explosion."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Ashley and Cassie knelt beside Zimri, checking for his pulse. "Yeah, well, he may not be alive for much longer. All five of them are in seriously bad shape and we should get them to the ship immediately, or they may not make it more than a few minutes."

Teleporting to the ship, the five of them were placed on medical beds. Alpha came in and ran a scanner over them, assessing their injuries. As he got to Zimri, he started the scan and the scanner flatlined halfway through.

"I'm sorry Andros. His injuries were just too extensive, but the good news is the others seem to be stable. At least for now, however, they are all in very poor shape and will need to be monitored," Alpha explained, as TJ and Carlos carefully put a blanket over Zimri and transferred him onto a stretcher.

The two of them dragged his body to the morgue, which was on the lowest deck. It was definitely not the most convenient of places, but oh well, what were they to do about it. How often did a crew member die on this ship anyway, so why have that close to medical?

LLLLL

The next few days Andros never left medical. Ashley silently agreed and brought him his meals. Finally, after almost a week Ashley decided enough was enough. The others had been stable enough for the last few days that she decided it wouldn't hurt to drag him away from them for a few hours.

"Andros, it has been a week. You need to get out, come on, my parents are having a barbeque tonight. My sisters have been asking about my mysterious boyfriend, I think they like your long hair."

Andros rolled his eyes. The last time they had ended up playing with his hair while he had been talking to a few of Ashley's family members. He went willingly after Ashley told him Cassie had agreed to keep an eye on them.

They were out several hours and when they came back, Andros walked Ashley to her room. Instead of going to his own room, he went to medical to continue on as he had been for the last several days.

Ashley was just settling down for the night when she heard DECA call for her. Rolling out of her bed, she threw her jacket on and went up to medical along with the others. Andros was up there practically pulling his hair out.

"Andros, what is wrong?" She went to hug him.

He pushed her away. "It's your fault, if you had never made me go out with you this evening, they would still be here."

Ashley looked for the first time seeing that the four beds were empty. She turned to her teammates. "Cassie, you were supposed to be watching them. You should have called me as soon as a change had been made. Where are they?"

Zhane came around the corner. "It's my fault. I tried to stay awake to tell you as soon as you got back. I made the decision while you were out, but I didn't want to interrupt your fun, I know how hard it is to get you to loosen up."

"What the heck are you talking about, Zhane, where are they and what did you do to them?" Andros said, grabbing his best friend by the shoulders, trying to desperately shake the information out of him.

Zhane shook himself out of Andros' grasp. "I made the decision that they weren't going to get any better as they were, they are down in the cryo stasis chamber."

Almost as if he didn't believe him, Andros ran down the corridor to the engine room where he hit the panel to open the secret door. Everyone else followed him to find him somewhat at ease when he saw the four of them in the chambers.

Ashley walked up to him and placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "I think you owe Zhane an apology." She paused. "He's right, you know. Their injuries were severe, if there is any chance of recovery this would be the only way from how the healing process was described to me. "

For the first time since she had known him, Andros openly broke down in her arms. She staggered under his weight just a bit. Slowly everyone left the two of them alone and Ashley just patiently stood there letting him get it all out.

LLLLL

Life for the rangers continued on as normally as possible as they finished their mission. They returned to KO-35 after the final battle with Astronema to find the colonists already coming home. Walking down the ramp not quite knowing what expect, Ashley, Cassie, Carlos and TJ followed Andros and Zhane.

A crowd gathered to welcome them home quickly surrounded them. The crowd broke apart as another group approached. A man with blonde hair came over and pulled Zhane away and just earnestly hugged him.

Zhane uttered only one word as he hugged the man back. "Father."

Ashley scanned the crowd quickly before she realized no one was going to be here to welcome Andros home. She quickly made her way to his side.

Just as she latched onto his arm, the woman who had come with Zhane's father marched over to Andros. "Andros, I demand to know where my daughter is."

Zhane let go of his father as he walked over to Andros as well. "Ildiko, you mean you didn't hear?" he asked curiously.

Shyam crossed his arms. "What do you mean heard, where are Gaynor and Azalia?"

Andros stood there, shocked, for a minute unsure of what to say. He knew that Ildiko still hated him, even after all the years that had passed. Yes, she had tolerated him but she made it known that she would rather have had someone else take Zimri's place on the team.

"Well, to tell you the truth…" Andros started to tell her, breaking off halfway through.

Zhane picked up for his friend. "They fell at the beginning of the war. They never even finished fighting through the battles here on KO-35."

Zhane was almost mauled over by four angry parents, but he put his hands up and told them to wait a minute. "They aren't dead, though. I fell alongside them, I am just the only one who has recovered. Ildiko, Shyam, Kalyca, Kerwin, your children, our teammates, Gaynor, Esiila, Azalia and Kasch are on the ship in the cryo chamber. You remember the way, you can go check now if you don't believe me."

Kalyca came over and hugged Andros, and then Zhane. "Of course we believe you, but if it is alright with you, we would like to go there and see our children for ourselves."

As they started walking away, Andros spoke up. "Wait, so you know during the last few months, through some random luck we discovered Zimri's body. He is in the morgue of the ship. His body is fully preserved in the freezer, when we found him it was almost as if he had died just the day before."

Andros fibbed; if they didn't know, then he didn't want to tell them that the five of them had been through tons of horrors in the last two years.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15 (Epilogue)

Everything was still on the Astro Megaship; there wasn't a ranger on board. The ship was sitting at NASADA spaceport and everyone was out and about. Well… there wasn't anyone moving onboard until there was sudden activity in the stasis chamber- the cover lifted and a hand moved off of the side. Sitting up. the figure stretched and looked around, shaking out his curly blonde hair. He looked around at the other four pods before jumping down.

As he jumped down, he nearly fell over. His legs felt really weak and why the heck was it so cold in here? And the question that he was most interested in an answer, what had happened to him that he had to be put in cryo stasis?

He walked over to the closest chamber while holding onto anything he could grab; his legs felt like Jell-O. When he made it to the closest chamber, he rubbed clumsily at the frost on the glass. He knew it was an almost futile gesture but he started to bang on the glass and shouted the occupants name. "Gaynor, oy, are you awake?"

It surprised him when Gaynor stirred ever so slightly and carefully started to stretch, before trying to sit up and banging his head on the top of the cover.

The cover opened up and Gaynor sat up. "Kasch, where are we, why are we in the cryo chamber?"

"I am trying to figure that out as well, I just woke up myself. From the looks of it, I am guessing the girls are in the other two containers but I haven't actually checked," Kasch explained as he tried to get his balance again, his strength was coming back to him slowly but surely. "The one thing I do know for sure is there is only two chambers so that means two people are…"

He broke off as he looked at Gaynor and helped his friend to stand.

"Still out there because they didn't get hurt enough to be put in cryo," Gaynor replied.

"No, I was going to say dead, but your answer works just the same," Kasch agreed. "Gaynor, what is the last thing you remember? My mind is really fuzzy after hearing the call to that Dark Specter's fleet was finally surrounding the colony."

Gaynor leaned against the cryo bed, putting most of his weight there. "The same for me as well. You don't think…" he paused.

"That we lost? Nah, I don't think so."

"Is that coming from Kasch, the all time pessimist?" Gaynor grinned.

"Well, think about it. If we lost, do you really think Dark Specter would leave us alive, much less put us in the cryo chamber on the Megaship?"

"You have a point there, so what do we do now?" Gaynor asked, for once in his life he didn't know how to lead.

"We wake the other two, then go and see if we can find either of the other two who aren't in the chamber."

Gaynor nodded and dragged himself toward one of the other chambers, while Kasch, who had gotten back enough strength that he could place most of his weight on his legs, only had a hand on the bed for stability. When they reached the bed, Gaynor wiped the frost from the top to find that it was Azalia.

Kasch checked the bios. "She's not completely healed, but she is healed enough that if we were to wake her she would do alright without the support of cryo."

He then checked the next chart. "The next one is Esiila and she is almost healed. In fact, this shows signs of her waking up already, why don't we wake her up first, then see to Azalia?"

Kasch walked over and helped Gaynor over to Esiila's bed. Kasch let Gaynor get his own balance while he triggered the release for the top, which exposed Esiila. Color was returning to her face and her eyelids were starting to flutter.

When her eyes finally did open, the first thing she saw was Gaynor. The moment she was able, she was sitting up and hugging him. "Gaynor, what am I doing laying on this bed? It's so cold."

"I don't know, both Kasch and I were also in cryo as well. We just woke up. Azalia is in the other one but we don't know where Zhane and Andros are, though."

Kasch looked over at Azalia's bed. "Gaynor, you stay here with Esiila, I am going to try to wake Azalia up."

Kasch went over and released the latch for the lid. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he shook her slightly. To his surprise she woke up fairly easily, however, she winced in some pain as he helped her sit up.

"Kasch, it is so cold, why am I here?" she said, looking around. She had the same question he, Gaynor, and Esiila had had.

"We don't know, that is what the three of us were trying to figure out. All four of us were sealed up in cryo chambers. Is the last thing you remember hearing that Dark Specter had just entered the system?"

Azalia nodded. "That's the last thing I remember as well, although my mind feels cloudy, as if it is trying to remember something else but it can't quite grasp it."

Esiila was standing up by now, holding onto Gaynor who was now able to hold his own. "We need to try and find Andros or Zhane," Esiila said. "We need to get the story right."

"I'm right with you guys," Azalia said, trying to stand. She almost collapsed. "Maybe not so much."

Kasch scooped her up. "Then I will carry you, you have always been the feather of our team."

Walking out of the chamber, the door to the cryo room closed behind them. The first thing they noticed was the engine seemed powered down. "Well, whoever is onboard seems to be docked somewhere solid because the engine is on reserve."

Walking up to command they didn't see anyone, Kasch set Azalia down. They were there a couple of minutes when a girl with blonde hair who they didn't recognize walked around the corner followed b,y to their surprise, Zhane. The girl reached for the closest thing when she saw them there, before Zhane could come in and stop her.

Zhane walked in and saw Karone threatening them. "Karone, put it down now. They are on our side, and they were mine and Andros' teammates before the war."

Karone literally dropped her weapon and bowed. "Forgive me, I didn't realize."

It took a minute for the name to click in the four of their heads, "Zhane, did you say Karone?" Esiila said, standing up and slowly walking around the girl.

Azalia smiled. "As in Andros' little sister?"

"Yes, that very Karone, and not only that, she and I are to be married in a few weeks time." Zhane smiled proudly, putting an arm around Karone's shoulder.

Gaynor observed Zhane for a minute. "How much time has passed since the battle on KO-35? It is the last thing we can remember."

"Umm, well, a little over five years, I think have passed, I was out of it for the first two years. I was struck down soon after you were," Zhane explained.

"So we were in cryo for five years, how seriously were we injured?" Kasch said, gaping.

"Umm, not exactly… You were only in cryo for two years about, you seriously don't remember beating us up?"

Azalia gave him a strange look from where she remained sitting and Zhane quickly amended his statement. "Well, urm, I guess not, let's just say it is a long story and I don't have time right now. I am due at a party in a couple minutes."

"You're set to be married and you still party?" Gaynor crossed his arms.

"No, I didn't mean that kind of party." He paused as he realized they should come with him. "Karone, why don't you go on ahead, tell our hosts that I have been tied up and will be along as soon as possible."

He kissed Karone on the cheek and she just nodded and walked out of the room.

"Now, as a precaution, I should probably go down to medical and give you all a clean bill of health." Zhane turned around and started to head out the door and as he did so he asked DECA, "DECA, could you have Alpha meet my friends and I in medical?"

Azalia walked slowly, leaning on Kasch while everyone else managed to walk alright on their own. "Who is Alpha, Zhane?"

"Oh, just someone we picked up through the years," Zhane said, shrugging the comment off while smiling. He knew they were themselves if Esiila reacted the way he thought she was going to when she saw Alpha.

The walked into medical and Zhane had each of them take a seat and a few seconds later he could hear Alpha approaching. When he entered the room, Esiila jumped up and walked around Alpha.

"Zhane, an Alpha unit? What did you do to get your hands on one? I heard that only Zordon and his close companions had them."

"Well, that's the thing. He was Dimitria's Alpha, and in the war she sent him with her team of rangers when they came here. At least, that is the basic story. In short, we sort of formed a new team with rangers that personally knew Zordon."

Esiila looked at Zhane. "What do you mean by, knew Zordon?"

"Two years ago, there was a serious battle that ended up being the battle to end the war. We won, but only because Zordon ordered Andros to destroy his energy tube."

They talked while Alpha scanned each one of them. After several minutes, he announced, "Well, they all have a clean bill of health, Azalia probably could have done with a few more days in Cryo, but she will live and any lasting effects she has now should vanish in about a week or two."

Zhane stood up. "So, do you think it would be alright for them to go to the party?"

"Of course. They should take it easy, remember how drained you felt when you first woke up, Zhane?"

Zhane nodded.

"Ay-yi-yi, Zhane, I am serious. If they feel the least bit tired, you should make them rest as soon as possible."

"Alright, then, but first we should get you some different clothes to wear and then we can head out."

Walking down to the living deck, Zhane stopped and disappeared into what had once been Esiila's room. When he came out he had a yellow dress with a light jacket. "I don't think Ashley will mind if you wear this."

He did the same with what had formerly been Azalia's room and now Cassie's. After doing the same in TJ's and Carlos' rooms, he stepped into his own for a second and when he came out, he handed Azalia her headband. "I, err… I found this a while back and have been hanging onto it."

He then stepped back. You can take turns changing in my room or you can go down to the bathroom and change, and later we will work out sleeping arrangements and get your stuff out of storage where it was placed when Andros actually thought you guys were dead."

A few minutes later the four of them came out dressed in the borrowed clothes and Esiila, who was admiring her outfit asked, "So we are just going to show up at this party dressed in other peoples clothes? Are these other rangers going to be there?"

Zhane nodded. "But don't worry, they've long since said you could use these clothes."

As they walked off the ship and into the holding bay, Gaynor looked around and didn't recognize a thing. "So where are we, what province are we in?"

"Umm, we aren't in a province on KO-35. We are on Earth in a town called Angel Grove."

Everyone looked at him and gasped a, "What?"

"Uhh, yeah. We have sort of aligned ourselves with Earth rangers, Dimitria was stationed on Earth at the time that she sent her rangers to us, so umm, our new teammates are Terran rangers."

Kasch rolled his eyes. "Let's just get to this party already."

They left the building to see a van sitting nearby and upon seeing them walk out, a figure in pink jumped out of the drivers seat.

Zhane saw her and called out, "Cassie, what are you doing here?"

"Karone got to the house and said you were bringing guests, I didn't think there was a need to really make whoever you are bringing walk. So I just asked and borrowed the Hammond's family van," Cassie explained. She then stopped and looked in Azalia's direction. "Hi, Azalia."

Azalia pointed at herself. "Do I know you?"

"Umm, we have met once or twice, but-" She held her wrist up and when she put her wrist down, she took the morpher off and attempted to hand it to Azalia.

Azalia pushed it back. "No, you keep it for now. From what Zhane has said, you have held it for the last three years. You hold onto it for me. I don't even think I have the strength right now if we were needed to fight."

Cassie nodded and secured it back to her wrist, then gestured to the van. "Well, there is a party going on so, let's get going."

She opened the doors to the van and climbed in the driver's seat.

When they got to the house, they heard loud music coming from the backyard and then some screaming followed by a splash. Zhane shook his head. "I wonder who they just dunked in the pool, sounded like it was one of the girls, though."

Cassie nodded. "Sounded like it might have been Kim." And she walked around to the gate only to be met by a soaking wet Ashley.

"Tommy and TJ got me when I wasn't holding Keilani. I'm going to go change before I retrieve her from one of her doting aunts, because I am soaked."

Upon going inside the gate, Esiila spotted Andros. Going over to see him, he stood there staring at them not believing they were there in front of ended when a young woman walked up and handed him a screaming infant.

He laughed as he tried to calm the child. "Well, this is quite a surprise, although it isn't the way I had planned on seeing you guys awake again."

Azalia came over and started to make faces at the baby to see if she could stop the crying. "So who is the noisemaker, anyway?"

"Oh umm, she is…" He stopped as she stopped crying and made a goofy look. "Oh, yes, you have perfect timing, don't you? You sure know how to ruin a moment. You couldn't have saved this for your mother just this once?"

Noticing a few stares he looked up, slightly embarrassed. "Guys, I would like you to meet my daughter, Keilani."

Gaynor gasped. "You, the baby of our group, a father? Well, I am surprised. Is the mother the girl who was soaked at the gate?"

"Yes, that is Ashley." Andros nodded as he went to the porch and pulled out from under the table a diaper bag. Setting out a pad which was in the bag, he laid the baby down and changed her diaper.

Kasch wrinkled his nose. "You actually change her diaper yourself? If it was me in your place I don't think I could stomach it."

After he was done, Esiila gestured and asked if she could hold Keilani. Andros nodded and handed her the baby.

"How old is she?" She sat there holding Keilani and Keilani was just content.

"She just turned four months, she's a pretty good baby. She slept through the night almost from the beginning and is happy most of the time. She started rolling onto her back about a week ago. Ashley was really excited over that milestone."

Ashley walked onto the porch. "Well, isn't this a cute scene," she said sitting down, holding a bottle. "What do you say, 'Lani, want to come and see what mama has for you?

Smiling, she took the infant from Esiila and proceeded to feed the baby.

Esiila smiled. "You finally have the family you always wanted, and we met your sister."

"Oh yeah, I found her two and a half years ago, actually Zhane found her first but didn't realize who she was until after she broke up with him. Zhane, how many dates did you manage with her?"

"Oh, umm, one real date and then she fried the flowers I had bought for her. I learned my lesson then, don't try and date your enemy while she is your enemy."

Gaynor and Kasch raised an eyebrow each. "What do you mean your enemy?"

Zhane gazed over to where Karone was just climbing out of the pool, having been recently dunked. "Well, you remember Astronema?"

"Her? Andros, your sister was Astronema?"

Andros nodded. "Yeah, and you worked for her for a short while."

"What? What are you saying?" all of them asked Andros.

"You don't remember? Well, it is a long story but to make it short when you fell during the battles, the creature who kidnapped Karone took you and turned you into the Psycho Rangers," Andros said reluctantly.

Azalia's happy face dropped. "You mean he turned us evil? Did we hurt you?"

Andros shook his head, to see Cassie walking up to them. "Hey, you guys might want to go get something to eat. Rocky is hungry and once he is let at the food table nothing is going to be left."

Andros nodded and stood up. "Ash, do you want anything specific?"

"Nah, just surprise me," she said, picking up Keilani to burp her.

As they walked through the crowd of people, several people smiled and waved at them.

Kasch looked around. "So who exactly are all these people?"

"They are all rangers, or were rangers, the Earth teams are set up differently then Kerovian teams. Anyone can become a ranger at anytime, however, they all live in secret."

"One thing has been bothering me since we got here. What about our parents, did they make it through the war?" Gaynor asked cautiously.

"Of course they did, they are back on KO-35. We are all headed back there tomorrow."

LLLLL

Later that night Andros took them all back to the ship. "I will see you tomorrow morning, then."

"Where are you going, Andros?" Azalia wanted to know as he started to leave.

"Back to the house. Ashley and I have been staying in the attic apartment of her parent's house. Her parents adore Keilani and basically demand that we stay with them when we are here on Earth."

Walking onboard, they found Cassie and Carlos there in the work bay talking. Cassie had a dog they had seen briefly at the party with her. He was sleeping at her feet while she sat at a table typing something on what they could only guess to be a computer, it just didn't look like Kerovian computers.

Carlos, who Kasch had met sometime during the day as his replacement, was sitting across from Cassie playing a video game. Cassie looked up when they entered. "Hey, did you have fun today?"

Esiila sat down and nodded. "It was interesting meeting all the Earth rangers. I know Andros explained it to us, but why are there so many rangers when the ranger program has only been around for eight years?"

"Well the secretive factor is what it comes down to, life gets in the way and because it's supposed to be a secret, we can't exactly turn down big opportunities. For example, Kimberly, the first pink ranger, she got the opportunity to go train with a world renowned gymnastics coach. If we get an offer that big we can't exactly turn it down without a good excuse and rangering isn't a possible excuse because of it being secretive," Cassie explained.

Gaynor looked at the two of them, now that Carlos had put his game down. "Can I ask you how it works with being secretive, I mean battles are unpredictable. Don't people question where you are always going to or why you're always getting injured?"

"Well, that's the beauty of it. We all live busy lives on the side and many of us play sports that we are already getting injured in," Carlos said, placing his hands behind his head. "You would be amazed at what one can pull off as soccer related injuries."

Just then Zhane and TJ walked in. "Well, at least for tonight we have your stuff out of storage and in four of the spare rooms. Tomorrow we can decide if you want to stay there or switch rooms with Cassie, TJ, Carlos, and Ashley. Esiila I am pretty sure you can have your room back, Ashley hasn't slept in there since she and Andros got married. It has just been storage."

Kasch and Azalia looked at each other before he spoke. "I think we are going to turn in. Gaynor, you and Esiila coming?"

Gaynor looked at Esiila. "No, I don't think just right yet, we need to talk about a few things. We will be down shortly."

Esiila stood up and walked with Gaynor out of the room in search of someplace alone where they could talk. When they finished they came down to the work bay to find that Zhane had already gone to bed, along with Cassie, Carlos, and TJ.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The next morning upon awakening, the four of them found in their belongings their old spare uniforms. Changing into them, they met to head out and find the rest of the team.

Ashley and Andros were already onboard and Jetson was lying in a corner of the work bay chewing on a bone. Apparently, it was almost lunch time because Cassie was helping Andros make sandwiches while Ashley sat on the floor out of the way with Keilani, who was on her stomach on a blanket with some toys. The baby was cooing and imitating some sounds she heard and as she was doing so, Esiila sat down next to Ashley to watch the baby play. Keilani let out a sound that got Ashley excited.

"Andros, Keilani just said 'Mama' in her babbling!"

Soon after, Ashley had to get up to do something and was going to put Keilani in her carrier when Esiila asked if she could hold her. Ashley nodded and handed the baby to the girl who was fast becoming her friend.

Sometime during the time she had been sitting on the floor with Ashley, Gaynor had stepped out to talk to Azalia and when he came back in the room he admired Esiila. "You are such a natural holding her, Esi."

"I know, it hurts to think that if we had never been injured I would have a little one like Keilani now," Esiila said, smiling as Keilani stuck her fist in her mouth and tried to babble with her mouth full of hand.

"Well, you know that if you want to that badly we don't have to wait. As soon as we are reunited with our parents, we can organize the ceremony to marry us and be an official married couple within the week," Gaynor said, standing near her.

"I know, I just don't know. There is so much we need to work out right now. I want it so badly, but yet I want to wait and sort out all the stray ends in our lives. We have missed out on five years of our lives, there are bound to be tons of loose ends."

Ashley walked back in the room and smiled. "Esiila you are such a natural."

"Gaynor was just telling me the same exact thing." Esiila smiled as Keilani started to whimper.

Ashley instinctively reached for her daughter. "Oh, is my little baby girl hungry for her lunch?"

"You bottle feed her right?" Esiila asked and Ashley nodded. "Do you think I could try to feed her?"

"Of course you can." Ashley paused. "Let me just go and warm her bottle and I will bring it back to you."

Ashley left the room and came back a few minutes later with a warmed bottle and a burp rag. "Actually, this is a real help, I still have some stuff I need to finish doing."

After Esiila had fed and burped Keilani, she started fussing and Andros quickly dropped what he was doing to come over and rescue Esiila. "Sorry, Esiila, looks like 'Lani has decided its time for her nap. I'll be right back."

He disappeared and when he returned about ten minutes later he had a baby monitor clipped to his belt. "She usually takes a nap about nine in the morning that is about an hour and then goes down for another nap shortly after her noon bottle and will stay down for three hours. She didn't get that yesterday, the party kept her awake, although she got some short ones in yesterday. She was in bed quite early last night. Then this morning, she didn't get as long of a morning nap because of Ashley and me coming back here. But like I said yesterday, she is a pretty flexible baby, which is good for the two of us, I think it would drive Ashley a little crazy if she was a demanding "I have to have it my way now" baby like she said her little sisters were."

"Andros, when are we going to be heading back to KO-35?" Gaynor asked.

"After lunch. Carlos was meeting with someone this morning and will be back in about an hour. Now I think lunch is about ready so if you want to wash up and find Azalia and Kasch, we can all have lunch together," Andros said, moving off to give Cassie a hand.

Esiila smiled. "I remember when he first moved to the base when he was ten; he was so different then from what he is today. It almost doesn't seem possible that he is the same boy as that scared ten year old who captured our hearts and taught us so much about life."

Gaynor nodded and went to find where his sister had gotten to. He found her at an observation point talking to Kasch, even though the window looked out only onto the cold concrete of the hanger bay. "Hey you two, Andros said lunch is ready, do you want to come eat or sit here and continue talking?"

Kasch turned around. "We'll be right up, we are just talking about some things."

"Oh, like what?" Gaynor said, leaning against a bulkhead.

"Like what we are going to do about our morpher situation. I mean, we can't just take them from the others, can we? Surely they deserve some rights for having held them for us for the last three years," Azalia said, finishing Kasch's earlier statement.

"Hey, don't worry about that now, lets just enjoy this time and then we can work it out at a later date after we talk this over with Kin-Won and them. I mean we saw yesterday that Cassie was almost willing to give Azalia her morpher back. Andros made a good decision when he gave them the morphers, they are good people and their hearts are in the right place."

Kasch and Azalia nodded and stood up following Gaynor back to the work bay where everyone was gathering for lunch.

When they got there, Zhane was holding Karone and talking in the corner, before joining everyone at the table.

LLLLL

A few hours later they landed in the airstrip on KO-35 and as Esiila Kasch, Gaynor and Azalia walked down the ramp wearing hoods so they could hide their identities and surprise everyone. They took in the renovated sight of the city, almost all of the buildings that had been destroyed had been either rebuilt or demolished making the cityscape a much different sight from five years ago. When they arrived at the base they found that it also had been remodeled. Andros explained that the base had been shelled, partially destroying a few wings of the building. Instead of one massive branched building it was now walled in and several smaller buildings; however, the gate was an open gate with only one guard to guard, it making the base much more accessible to everyone.

Upon entering the main building where Kin-Won's office was, Andros had him paged and shut the door to the office, giving the ten of them some privacy till Kin-Won arrived.

Kin-Won walked in. "Andros, what a surprise. I wasn't expecting you till tomorrow at the earliest."

"Well there were a few changes in plans, and some people I was supposed to meet with were unable to do so, so I need to return in a month to meet with them," Andros said, handing Kin-won his report.

Kin-Won looked at the four cloaked figures standing off to the side. Their hoods were large so he couldn't see their faces, "Andros, who are the four strangers who hide their faces?"

Andros smiled. "Sir, why don't you ask them yourself?"

Kin-Won did so and was pleasantly surprised when they slipped their hoods off of their faces. "Hello, sir," Gaynor greeted Kin-won after taking off his cloak.

"Well, this is sure a pleasant surprise. I was wondering when the four of you would finally wake up." Kin-Won walked over and hugged each of them. "Have you been to see your parents yet?" he added after he had finished.

"No, not yet. We just got here a few minutes before coming here. We thought it best to reveal ourselves to you first. You, after all, were our mentor and trainer as well as teacher," Esiila said, bowing her head.

"Well, I am flattered but you really must go see your parents. I will hire three transports for you, go see them. They have been quite anxious to see you awake and well." Kin-Won shoed them off as they each put their cloaks back on, not ready to reveal to the general public that they were back. There was sure to be a riot to welcome them back.

Kin-Won walked with them and called on three of his most trusted drivers, the three he trusted the most to keep the secret of who they were chauffeuring around the colony.

LLLL

Gaynor and Azalia arrived at their parents estate before the others, seeing as it was right inside the main city. Stepping out of the transport they asked the driver to wait. Nodding, the driver got out of the car with a news spread and went to sit under a tree near the vehicle.

Going up to the main door they knocked to be greeted by servants who instantly welcomed them in and offered to take the 'travelers' cloaks. They refused and just asked to speak with the lord and lady of the house. It was by luck that none of the servants had been there five years prior and therefore did not recognize their voices.

A servant quickly dashed off to return a few minutes later agreeing to escort them to their parents study. Once inside, the servant stood at the doorway until she was given orders to leave. Shyam was sitting at his large desk and Kalyca was standing by a bookshelf, dressed in a splendidly beautiful dress just like the old days. Gaynor sighed, while many things on the colony had changed since he last laid eyes on it, his mother hadn't.

Shyam stood to be joined by his wife. "Who are you two travelers that you ordered a meeting with us?" he asked in a very stern voice.

Gaynor put his hands to his hood and proceeded to lift it. "But Father, we really aren't just any travelers," he said, as he put his hood down. Azalia followed suit.

Kalyca gasped and embraced her daughter as her eyes brimmed with tears. She kissed Azalia's silky hair.

LLLLLL

As Kasch arrived at his father's estate, he breathed in a deep scent of the farm. His father had a country estate, although he never involved himself with the land work it was a fully functioning farm, and a part of Kasch had always loved the horses and cattle that lived on the land. He would never tell anyone but he had once snuck out as a young boy and tried to drive one of the plow horses, because he thought it an amazing process. His father had asked how he had gotten so dirty but Kasch had shrugged it off as falling during one of his training sessions and blamed the ring on being too muddy after a recent rainstorm.

Holding his cloak close, he signaled the driver to wait as he walked across the lane and up to the sprawling house. Inside the gate, he encountered servants just like Gaynor and Azalia had at their place. However, it was Kasch's own personal nanny from when he was a boy who asked his intentions. The woman knew who he was immediately and he had to hush the woman from squawking to all other servants that the young master had returned home.

Quickly, he ordered her to go to his father's study and tell him that a weary traveler only wanted a minute of his time in private. The woman quickly agreed and returned to escort him a few minutes later. As they arrived at his father's sitting room, Kasch saw a maid arrive with a bottle on a tray with two glasses. He was asked to wait outside as Nanny walked into the room and set the tray down to hear his father's strong voice. "Ofelia, I didn't ask for a tray to be brought up. Please take it away."

"Oh, sir, trust me you are going to want this in just a moment." She then walked to the door to usher Kasch in.

The first thing he saw as he walked in was the life size painting of his late mother hanging on the wall, just as it had his whole life. A rare virus had taken her from the people when he was only three; he hardly remembered her. Sure, there had been plenty of maidens and widows from all over the alliance and the colony who called on his father but none stayed more then a year, and that was a rare occurrence if they would make it even a month. Maybe that is where he had gotten his pessimistic attitude from, he had fallen over several of the woman who wanted to call him their son but in the end they were all sent away.

Kerwin moved to greet his guest. Ofelia bowed and left the room but Kasch could tell that she was right outside the door. "Cheeky old woman," he thought. She had always had her nose in his affairs growing up even after he had out grown the need for a nanny.

"So what is the occasion for this counsel, weary traveler?" Kerwin asked.

Kasch grinned and walked over to the tray and picked up the glasses and bottle. He poured each of them a glass as his father tried to protest.

"Really, Father. I thought you would have gotten the clues by now, when else does Ofelia stick around or draw her nose into your matters other than when it involves me?"

Kerwin nearly dropped his glass as he grabbed Kasch in a hug that he had never been more proud to give his son. His son was home and well and after all that was all the widower could ask for.

LLLLL

Esiila arrived at her parents' estate. They had relocated into her uncle Ture's estate after the war, evidently her mother had found the destruction too overwhelming for her nerves. This estate was far out in the country on the side of a mountain which overlooked miles of rough wilderness. Esiila had often spent summer weekends with Zimri here as a young child. However, she had been an angel of a daughter and only ever sat on the wall of the well house and admired the scenery while her cousin roughhoused with the servants' children and often beat them if they did not play a game by his rules.

Esiila smiled. She knew one of the first things she would do here and that would be to put on one of her old rough 'play' skirts and jump in the pristine lake like she always longed to as a young child, but she had been too afraid to disobey her parents then.

She walked up to the door but saw her parents over by the very same well house she had remembered from her childhood. A gentle wind was blowing and she gripped her cloak tightly about her as she made her way over to where they stood, overlooking a valley that in the distance allowed a view to the city.

Accidentally stepping on a twig, she jumped when her mother turned around, swiftly followed by her father who was so regal and noble.

She walked a bit closer and kneeled in front of them, allowing them to take her hood off of her head. Instantly, her father took her hands in his and hugged her. Letting the wind blow her long hair around, she stayed in the hug as long as her father would allow because this was not like his old hugs, which had had an air of disappointment in them. No, this was a genuine hug and it was full of love, one she was afraid that if she let go she would never feel again.

LLLL

Upon returning to the base a few hours later, the four of them reunited and Esiila ran right to Gaynor and whispered something in his ear. Gaynor smiled and noticed Azalia talking to a page. The general public still did not know of their return but he figured she must be trying to locate the boy she had been seeing before the war.

It wasn't long before the page brought back a young man whom Gaynor recalled seeing run one of the corner stores that used to be just around the corner. The man was lead into the room where the four of them waited and when he saw Azalia standing there, he seemed to overflow with joy that he had long since locked up. Evidently the boy had not moved on in the five years but had been holding out that Azalia would return, even to the point that all eligible maidens had left him for others.

She ran to him and he swung her around, slipping a necklace around her neck. Gaynor's heart swelled watching his sister become promised to him.

The announcement was made and a few days later Gaynor married Esiila in a double wedding with Azalia and the boy, whose name was Mazin. The decision was made shortly thereafter that the four of them would share the morphers with their replacements. It would be complicated but all of them wanted to keep the Earth rangers in their lives, and besides, this way maybe some more new blood would enter the rangering line, because each of their children would be up for becoming the next generation.

LLLLL

Eight years later, Esiila was watching her son and daughter play with Keilani from a bench in the park on Earth. She and Gaynor made it a point to visit often when the children weren't in school. Keilani came to Earth quite often to visit with her grandparents.

Ashley made her way to sit down with Esiila, holding the newest addition to her and Andros' family-a little girl, Safina. Esiila let out a laugh as Keilani, Valeda and Coel ran across the playground as they were chased by Andros' twin sons, who had just turned four; Tevis and Jamshid.

"Have you noticed that Andros seems a bit moodier this week then usual?" Ashley asked, breaking Esiila's train of thought.

"When is he not having some mood? That's just Andros," Esiila said, picking up and shaking a toy at Safina.

"No, I mean really shaken up. Last night it took all my pleading to get him to come to bed. He stood and looked out the window most of the evening," Ashley explained to her friend of eight years.

"Would you like me to talk to him?" Esiila sighed as Safina fussed into Ashley's shirt.

"Would you? I am worried about him. When he did come to bed, he tossed part of the time talking about Ture," Ashley said, leaning over to pull a bottle out of a diaper bag.

Esiila bolted straight up. "Do you know where he is? I think I might know what is wrong."

"Back at my parents' house where we stayed last night, he had some paperwork to work on. What do you think is wrong and how would in involve Ture, he's in jail still, isn't he?"

"Yes, but not for long. His twenty year term is up in about a month or two. I am not sure when, but he has tried to make contact with my mother recently. She finally turned around a few years ago and is no longer going to welcome him back as she originally planned on doing. The only thing I can think of is Andros is worried Ture might come after him in revenge for losing his place of honor." She paused as she stood. "Will you watch the kids for me?"

Ashley nodded as she watched Esiila walk over to eight year old Valeda and seven year old Coel before leaving the park.

LLLL

Knocking on the door to the study where she knew Andros would be borrowing space to work, Esiila walked in with Gaynor following. Andros turned around to see his long time friends come in. Esiila sat on the small couch under the window and Gaynor sat on the arm.

"What brings you here to see me today?" Andros asked as he set his pen down.

"Ashley told me a little while ago that you were uneasy about something last night. She is worried about you, Andros, but she wanted me to talk to you because she fears that it might be something she doesn't quite understand," Esiila said, reaching out to place a hand on Andros'. "Is she right in guessing that it is Ture's impending release that has you shaken up?"

Andros stood and looked out the window. "No, no it's not."

"Andros, look at me and say that to my face, I have always been able to tell when you lie. You are a horrible liar," Esiila said sternly, like she used to when they had been kids.

Sticking his hands in his pockets, he shrugged, know he had been caught red handed. "Fine, yes, Esiila, it is what is irking me right now."

Gaynor looked right into his younger commander's face. "Then you know what you must do, then, don't you."

"I have already written a letter to him. He never replied back about what I had wanted to discuss with him," Andros said, pulling out of one of his folders a copy of the letter he had written.

Esiila read it before handing it back to him. "That is not what we meant. We meant you need to go to him in person. We can leave tonight."

Gaynor nodded. "Kasch and Azalia I know will also go with you. You don't have to worry about visiting him alone. Kasch and Rachel are here visiting her family with Iscari, Roulth and Hikari. So the only one we will have to pick up is Azalia, that is, if you want to go. Ashley and Rachel can take care of the kids, they have before, no need to cut their vacation short."

Andros nodded and he stood up as Esiila called Ashley to tell her what was up before calling Kasch. Just as they had known would happen, both Ashley and Rachel agreed to watch the kids.

A little bit later Andros, Esiila, Kasch and Gaynor were on the Astro Megaship and were going to rendezvous with Azalia, who had agreed and immediately caught a transport that would meet them halfway to Eltar at a transfer base.

LLLL

They walked behind Andros as they marched down the aisle of the imperial prison with a guard on either side of them. Prisoners shouted insults at the five of them, many would not be leaving the prison anytime soon. The guards showed them to a room which was cut in half with a force field holding the one and only Ture in. Truth be told, the man had seen better days.

His head perked up a bit when he recognized his visitors, but quickly formed into a scowl when he realized they were no longer loyal to him and he had no authority over them.

The guard quickly announced that he had visitors, which got a snide remark out of Ture to which the guard responded with a threat which was issued in Eltarian. Ture understood it and quickly shrank back away from the guard.

It was apparent to Andros that while he may still have his tough exterior, inside he was a broken man for twenty years in this prison. While it was a nicely kept place, it was not a very hospitable place to its residents. The Eltarian's treated them only as nicely as they had to, but none the less, Eltar was a fair place and only those that were really thought dangerous spent time here, and that included those with suspected ties to the late Dark Specter.

Andros swallowed his nerves and walked up to the line that marked the shield. He tried to be as calm as possible, but Esiila could tell he was shaking like he had when he was ten after his beating from Zimri.

"Ture, I came here today to tell you that I forgive you and that I do not hold any hard feelings against you."

"It is a nice sentiment that you came here. I was expecting you long ago, though, but not to say what you just said to me," Ture muttered softly.

"I did not come here just for myself. I came here out of fear for my own children. I wanted to know where you still stood so I didn't have to worry about you trying to take me down just like you took my father down and leave my four children without a father."

Ture turned to the look towards a side wall. "Well, you won't have to worry, I will never come near you or your precious family. I have nothing left on KO-35. My whole family has turned from me, even my precious sister who thought the world of me. When I get out of here I was going to head to the deepest part of the galaxy and work on rebuilding a colony that Dark Specter destroyed. I have already gotten accepted into the ex-inmate work program there. If I have it my way, I will never again come to this part of the universe."

Andros sighed and turned with a nod, having gotten the answer he wanted. He left without another word, knowing that he could go home and his children wouldn't be at risk for living the same life he had. His mind was finally at rest.


End file.
